Vadym Shakhraichuk’s team kicked off the championship with a win.
Kyiv Capitals – Dnipro (Kherson) – 5:3 (3:0; 0:0; 2:3)
Pucks: 1:0 – Panchenko (Liesnikov, Teamriuc), 04:06; 2:0 – Panchenko (Chernenko), 13:10; 3:0 – Panchenko (Sekirko, Sirchenko), 17:18; 4:0 – Koida (Berdniks), 43:30; 5:0 – Liesnikov (Koida, – short-handed), 47:29, 5:1 – Val. Muryn (Osadchyi, Ponomariov, – power play), 57:00, 5:2 – Zhovtiak (Chupryna, – power play), 57:40; 5:3 – Ponomariov (power play), 58:44
Kyiv Capitals: Nazar Boyko; Nikita Liesnikov – Deniss Berdniks, Vladyslav Teamriuc – Serhii Chernenko (c) – Yaroslav Panchenko; Vladyslav Luhovyi – Valentyn Sirchenko, Andrii Kryvonozhkin – Sevastian Karpenko – Mykyta Oliynyk; Tymur Lapko – Oleksii Melnykov, Danylo Tyshchenko – Yevhen Sekirko – Mykola Dvornyk; Artem Arkhypenko, Denys Plesovskykh – Oleksandr Valkun – Oleksandr Koida
Head coach: Vadym Shakhraichuk
Dnipro: Taras Muryn; Kyrylo Bortnikov (c) – Ivan Nikolaienko, Oleksandr Zhurenko – Maksym Zhovtiak – Yurii Smerteniuk; Valentyn Muryn – Dmytro Klionov, Hlib Chupryna – Denys Osadchyi – Tymofii Ponomariov; Vladyslav Onyshchenko – Albert Ventliand, Danyil Derkach – Mykhailo Delii – Taras Karnaukh; Mykhailo Zinchenko, Ivan Horodnyk – Yehor Vasyliiev
Head coach: Kostiantyn Butsenko
Like in the previous season, Kyiv Capitals started their journey with a match against Dnipro. Before the game began, the players of our team held a banner with the images of hockey players who lost their lives in the war against russia, paying tribute to them with a minute of silence.
As for the match itself, the home team took the lead early in the fifth minute. Yaroslav Panchenko, the top scorer of our team in the previous season, scored for the Kyiv Capitals in this new championship. It was set up by a brilliant pass from Liesnikov, who fed the puck to Yaroslav past the Dnipro hockey players, who couldn’t stop him.
Later in the first period, Panchenko netted a second goal. Chernenko won the face-off and set up the forward for an easy tap-in to an open net. Yaroslav made no mistake in converting the opportunity.
Before the end of the first period, Panchenko scored a hat trick, surpassing Vitalii Lialka as the leading scorer with three goals against the Kherson team. The teams went to the break with a score of 3:0.
In the second 20 minutes, the highlight was the goalkeeping performance of both teams. Nazar Boyko stood out by neutralizing four shots during a rapid counterattack by the pikes. Taras Muryn also had a strong performance, keeping a clean sheet in the second period.
In the final 20 minutes, the Kyiv team scored their fourth goal as Koida’s powerful shot was eventually deemed a goal after video review by the referees.
The hosts scored their fifth goal while opponents were playing with a player advantage. The Kyivans launched a fierce attack on Taras Muryn’s possession, resulting in a successful pass from Koida to Liesnikov, who scored his first goal for the Kyiv Capitals.
Following the penalties for Kryvonozhkin, Berdniks, Luhovyi and Sekirko, the Kherson team found themselves with a two-minute double-man advantage, but failed to capitalize on it.
However, after a strategic time-out called by Kostiantyn Butsenko, the pikes managed to score twice during the 5×4 play. Valentyn Muryn and Zhovtiak were credited with the goals.
Closer to the end Dnipro scored their third goal during power play with a well-placed shot from Ponomariov. Despite their efforts, time ran out for the guests to make a comeback. So, Vadym Shakhraichuk’s team secured three points in their opening match of the championship.
Next game for Kyiv Capitals is scheduled for November 6th against Sokil. Meanwhile, Dnipro also will challenge Oleg Shafarenko’s squad two days after that.
