5-0 Up, Then 5-4: Dinamo Minsk Survive Lada's Late Four-Goal Storm

5-0 up, 5-4 final. Dinamo Minsk scored five unanswered goals against Lada Togliatti at Minsk-Arena, then lost four straight in the final nine minutes and still walked off winners in a nine-goal KHL night, no overtime required.

Twenty scoreless minutes came first. Then the middle frame detonated. Lada took four minors in the second period, and Minsk made the period theirs: Stanislav Galiev opened at 23' off Sam Anas, Brady Lyle doubled the lead at 25' from Chris Tierney, and Anas struck at 29' with Tierney assisting again — three goals in six minutes. Daniil Lipsky's unassisted effort at 36', right after matching five-minute penalties on both sides, made it 4-0.

Arseny Chukhrayev stretched it to 5-0 at 48', and then the night flipped. Andrei Chivilev broke the shutout at 51' off Nikita Setdikov, Jeremy Groleau made it 5-2 at 57' from Nikita A. Rozhkov, and Riley Sawchuk cut the gap to 5-3 at 59'. Setdikov struck again at 60', created by Chivilev, and Minsk — who had taken minors at 45' and 56' — survived by one.

Chivilev's stat line deserved better than a defeat: one goal, two assists, a hand in three of Lada's four scores. Setdikov added a goal and an assist of his own. Minsk's work was front-loaded — Chris Tierney set up two goals, Sam Anas scored one and created another, and Galiev's 23rd-minute opener started the whole run.

Minsk did all its damage inside 48 minutes; the rest was damage control. Lada will spend the long trip home wondering where this version of the team was at 5-0.