Penalty trouble hurts Vanke Rays

14 October 2021 Tornado, Vanke Rays, WHL

Tornado Dmitrov 2 KRS Vanke Rays 1 (1-0, 1-1, 0-0)
The Rays’ four-game winning streak came to an end in Dmitrov following a narrow loss to one of our
closest rivals. A short-handed goal from Taylor Lum in the second period was not enough to salvage
this game, while Kimberley Newell’s 35 saves could not keep us ahead of the opposition.
The Lady Dragons welcomed Rachel Llanes back onto the line-up and she joined the first line in place
of Anna Segedi. Emily Costales also returned to the team after missing out second game at Ice Wings
last week and there was a recall for Yunlin Pi. On defense, Zhixin Liu came back into the line-up,
pairing Camryn Wong; Kaitlin Tse moved to the third duo alongside birthday girl Anna Fairman, 21
today.
The first period of Wednesday’s game was evenly fought. Although Tornado had twice as many goal
attempts, the home team was unable to get many of them on target – just eight out of 22. At the
other end, the Rays performed with greater precision and eight of their 11 efforts on Yulia Volkova’s
net required the intervention of the home goalie. However, KRS took more penalties than the host
and that made the difference in the first stanza. Tornado’s second power play of the game brought
the opening goal, scored by Elizaveta Shkalyova.
Early in the second period, the Rays hit back with a short-handed goal, converted by Taylor Lum but
the middle frame saw Tornado enjoy far more of the play. The home team regained the lead on a
goal from Lyudmila Belyakova, who had a brief spell with KRS in the summer before rejoining the
Dmitrov-based club.
Red Star’s problems intensified towards the end of the second period with a couple of penalties
leaving the girls to defend a 3-on-5 situation. That was successfully killed but it was hard to rebuild
momentum in the third period – with a steady string of penalties further disrupting our game – and
Tornado held on to secure a narrow victory. The teams meet again tomorrow with revenge very
much in our girls’ minds.