Dragons Beat Cambridge 5-2 at Lee Valley

The London Dragons returned to Lee Valley on 24 January and delivered a 5-2 win over the Cambridge Blues in Checking 1 South.

We set the tone early and carried the game for long stretches, finishing with a 57-32 advantage in shots. Samuel Rudenko scored the game-winning goal, while Shengxi Wei was named MVP for the Dragons. Shaan Baig took MVP honours for Cambridge.

Cambridge had the first power play of the night after Niki Visic was called for tripping at 2:27, but we settled in well and opened the scoring at 11:30. Aleksandr Zaborskikh finished from Tom Jungbluth and Artem Meshcherin to make it 1-0. Cambridge answered quickly after Nikita Piazenko was called for boarding at 12:06, with Jack Murphy scoring on the power play at 12:54 from Jonathan Romic to level the game.

We responded well and regained control before the first intermission. At 16:22, Seamus Nangle restored our lead from Maxwell Tong and Niki Visic. Then, with just six seconds left in the period, Samuel Rudenko scored from Tong and Jungbluth to make it 3-1. That goal stood as the game winner.

The second period was tighter. Cambridge cut the deficit to one at 28:11 through Shaan Baig, assisted by Ivan Grega, and the game became more physical from there. Piazenko and Murphy both went off at 29:35, Matthew Zhang was called for cross-checking at 31:41, and Rudenko took an interference penalty at 31:50. Despite the disruption, we held the line and took the 3-2 lead into the third.

We took over again in the final period. At 49:59, Edward Xing gave us breathing room, finishing from Raphael Girard and Matthew Azevedo to make it 4-2. Cambridge then ran into penalty trouble, with Grega called for boarding at 50:21 and Zhang for tripping at 52:12. We made them pay at 52:27 when Zaborskikh scored his second of the night on the power play from Piazenko and Rudenko to put us 5-2 ahead. Cambridge took another penalty through Murphy at 54:13, and from there we closed the game out comfortably.

This was a strong team performance. We got goals from five different moments across the lineup, controlled the shot count, and responded well whenever Cambridge threatened to get back into the game. Zaborskikh led the scoring with two goals, Tong had two assists, Jungbluth had two assists, and Rudenko not only scored the winner but also added an assist on the late power-play goal.

Shengxi Wei was named our MVP as we completed an important home win against a side that had tested us earlier in the season. After Cambridge cut it to 3-2 in the second, we did not let the game drift. We reset, pushed back in the third, and finished it properly.

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