MINSK, Belarus (Interstat) — Dinamo Minsk unleashed a dominant second-period offensive surge to power past Lada Togliatti 7-2 in a Kontinental Hockey League matchup Sunday at Minsk-Arena.

The game’s decisive turning point arrived in the middle frame, where Dinamo Minsk transformed a scoreless contest into a commanding lead. After a first period that saw few scoring chances and two minor penalties, the home team erupted for three goals in less than seven minutes.

Daniil A. Lipsky broke the stalemate at 23:37 of the second period, converting a setup from Darren Dietz and Robert Hamilton. Just over a minute and a half later, Hamilton himself found the net, with Sam Anas and Alex Limoges assisting. The line of Anas, Limoges and Vitaly Pinchuk then took over, connecting for a crucial goal at 34:15. Anas finished the play, with assists from Limoges and Pinchuk, to extend the lead to 3-0.

Lada briefly interrupted the onslaught when Nikita Mikhailov scored at 30:03 to cut the deficit to two goals. However, Dinamo Minsk restored its three-goal cushion before the period ended, with Sergei S. Kuznetsov scoring off another feed from the prolific Limoges and Anas with just 30 seconds left in the frame.

The most important sequence of the game effectively sealed the result early in the third period. Just 19 seconds after the opening faceoff, with Lada’s Dmitry Kugryshev in the penalty box for delaying the game, Vitaly Pinchuk scored a power-play goal. The tally, assisted by Ty Smith and Xavier Ouellet, made it 5-1 and extinguished any lingering hope for a Lada comeback.

Dinamo Minsk continued to apply pressure, outshooting the visitors and capitalizing on a disorganized Lada squad that accumulated 10 penalties totaling 20 minutes. Andrei Chivilev scored a shorthanded goal for Lada at 47:23 of the third to make it 5-2, but Pinchuk answered with his second goal of the game at 54:14, again assisted by Smith and Limoges. Ilya Usov had opened the scoring in the first period for Dinamo Minsk, which added a late goal to complete the rout.

Alex Limoges was the central architect of the Dinamo Minsk offense, registering four assists. Sam Anas contributed a goal and two assists, while Vitaly Pinchuk led all scorers with two goals and an assist. Defenseman Robert Hamilton added a goal and an assist for the winners. For Lada, Andrei Chivilev scored a goal and defenseman Maxim Belousov was credited with three hits.

The victory improved Dinamo Minsk’s record to 20 wins and 11 losses, solidifying its position near the top of the KHL’s Western Conference. The loss dropped Lada to 11 wins and 25 losses, continuing a difficult season. The result avenged a 1-0 home loss to Lada earlier in the season on Nov. 8.

Dinamo Minsk next hosts Dynamo Moscow on Tuesday. Lada returns home to face Traktor Chelyabinsk on Thursday.