One of the marquee events at the 2018 Winter Olympics will be the men's hockey. But with the NHL deciding not to participate, most of the top national teams will be trying to find players from Russia's Kontintental Hockey League. And that could include members of Kunlun Red Star, the only Chinese-based squad in the circuit. The second-year team were at home in Shanghai to Admiral Vladivostok, and looking to move up in the standings, where they currently sit eighth in the Eastern Conference.

 

Scoreless in the second, the hosts on a powerplay, Gilbert Brule loses the handle after cutting in from the side boards, but the puck finds Jesse Blacker, who rifles it home. 1-0 Kunlun. On another pp in the stanza Brule sets up Wojtek Wolski, who beats the keeper from the dot to double the lead.

 

Admiral's special teams also help them get on the board, Pavel Makarenko's shot is stopped by Magnus Hellberg but Viktor Alexandrov swats it out of mid-air to make it 2-1. Then trying to nurse the lead late in the third, Nikita Khlystov's pass is intercepted by Alexandrov who finds Dimtry Sayustov who beats the keeper glove side. That ties things at 2, and forces overtime, no scoring in the extra stanza, so we go to a shootout.

 

Admiral score twice in their four attempts, while goalie Igor Bobkov stops 4 out 5 Red Star shooters to seal victory for his team and earn the extra point for the win.