Other events in Baltic States

Latvian ice hockey club Riga "Dinamo" unexpectedly beat Russia's St. Petersburg SKA 2-0 (1-0, 0-0, 1-0) in their first best-of-five Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoff series game in St. Petersburg yesterday evening, informs LETA.

Latvian national team forward Mikelis Redlihs scored the first goal shortly before the end of the first period, whereas Canadian Martin Kariya added an empty-netter at the end of the game.

In the first period of the game, both clubs had several chances to score, with attacking hockey being played. SKA was a bit more active in the period, however, the Latvian club took more shots on goal, with Redlihs scoring the first goal on a counter attack a minute before the end of the first period.

SKA came out attacking once again in the second period, however, heavy underdogs ''Dinamo'' stood their ground and had just as many good chances at scoring as the Russians.

In the third period, SKA kept up their pressure on ''Dinamo'', however, goalie Edgars Masalskis made several excellent saves to keep the Latvian club ahead. At the end of the period, SKA took off their goalie, however, ''Dinamo'' was able to take the puck away from the Russians and score an empty-netter 15 second before the final whistle.

Masalskis deflected all 27 shots on goal, earning his third shutout in the KHL this season. Riga ''Dinamo'', on the other hand, took 24 shots on goal.

The next game in the best-of-five series will take place in St. Petersburg today, whereas the third game will be played in Riga on Saturday.

Tonight's match will begin at 6:00 p.m. (Latvian time) and will be broadcast live on LTV7 and ''Viasat Sport Baltic''.

SKA finished the KHL regular season in first place in the Western Conference with 122 points from 56 games, whereas "Dinamo" placed eighth in the Western Conference with 84 points.