Coming off a win in Nizhny Novgorod, our team made the long haul out to the Far East. In Vladivostok, the Army Men took on Admiral. Forward Klim Kostin returned to the CSKA lineup after missing the start of the season. He skated on a line with Pavel Karnaukhov and Maxim Mamin. Young defenseman Ivan Yukin replaced Ivan Patrikhaev on the backline. After starting back-to-back games, Samonov yielded the net to Gamzin.
CSKA started the game strong, with Maxim Mamin and Maxim Sorkin testing the Admiral goaltender early on. Six minutes into the game, the Army Men got a power play but failed to convert. But we scored 5-on-5. Nikita Nesterov snapped a shot on net, Nikolai Kovalnko tipped it along the way, and Denis Guryanov cleaned up the rebound in the slot. Our number 34 was sharp. In the second period, the hosts turned up the pressure and managed to tie the game. Honestly, they benefited from a deflection as the puck just redirected into the net without a proper shot. This goal injected some emotion into the game, and soon enough, Klim Kostin and Konstantin Luchevnikov got into a scrap. Our forward clearly won that battle. The teams traded goals before the end of the period. The Admiral capitalized on the power play, and Kostin finished off a quick rush by burying a feed from Pavel Karnaukhov. In the third period, it became a next-goal-wins game. It was a tight checking game with very few chances. Our team killed off a two-minute penalty, shutting them down completely. Most of the action happened late in the third period. Karnaukhov drove the puck to the crease, fired it, and Kostin cleaned up the rebound to score his second of the night. But the home team answered right back with a 6-on-5 goal. We generated more high-danger chances in the extra frame to win it. But the puck wouldn't go in, forcing a shootout. Dmitry Gamzin made a spectacular stick save on the very first attempt, and Marat Khairullin netted the game-winner. We grind out a tough win and get ready for Khabarovsk.
