CSKA played its last home game of the KHL regular season against Dinamo Minsk. The teams are very likely to meet in the first round of the playoffs, which made the game extra interesting. Forward Ivan Drozdov appeared in our team after a short absence, he took a place in the first line with Pavel Karnaukhov and Egor Fateyev. Maxim Mamin was absent, otherwise the lineup didn't change compared to the previous game.
The guests scored the only goal in the first period. After a long shot, the puck hit the post and bounced unluckily for CSKA right onto the stick of Dinamo's Roman Gorbunov. The game wasn't easy, like all games against Minsk this season, and there weren't many dangerous chances. The second period was even more unsuccessful. After two more Dinamo goals, the Army coaching staff replaced Ivan Prosvetov with Pavel Khomchenko to shake up the team. And CSKA really went forward more actively, there were several promising approaches to the goal. The Minsk players switched to counterattacks, and one of them was effective - 0:4. Even with this score, the Army Men continued to fight. A few seconds before the break, Ivan Drozdov pulled the puck from behind the goal and passed it to Denis Guryanov, who broke the score. Unfortunately, this episode was not the turning point. In the third period, CSKA failed to take the initiative, the guests didn't let them get any closer.
