CSKA started 2025 with the Army derby. In St. Petersburg, our team played at the SKA Arena for the first time. Rourke Chartier, who recently signed a contract with CSKA, was in the starting lineup; he played in the center of the first line with Maxim Mamin and Pavel Karnaukhov. Other recent acquisitions, forwards Cole Cassels and Stanislav Galiev, again played in the same combination. Goalkeeper Pavel Khomchenko was also in the application, with Ivan Prosvetov becoming the starting goalkeeper.
The first period was unsuccessful for our team. The hosts played more actively and scored two goals, although one of them was not very logical. After a shot, the puck bounced off the glass onto the goal and returned to the game, Ivan Demidov played it. Before that, Demidov opened the scoring on a solo run. Our team had several scoring chances, played two minutes in the power play, but could not score on the opponent's goal. In the second period, CSKA played better. There were more chances, and the opponent grabbed a few more penalty minutes. But the puck did not go to the target. Galiev failed to hit the target from a favorable position in the power play, Maxim Sorkin was close to a goal at the end of the period. And SKA scored twice more. After the fourth goal, Ivan Prosvetov left the ice, Pavel Khomchenko made his debut for CSKA. In the third 20 minutes, the Army men showed their character and were close to comeback. Maxim Mamin finished a combination with Pavel Karnaukhov, and Colby Williams escaped from his opponents in the minority, and the intrigue flared up with renewed vigor, the gap was reduced to two goals. Our team continued to outplay SKA, and the third goal was a logical result of the pressure. Prokhor Poltapov sent the puck into the net from a negative angle and outsmarted Yegor Zavragin. Unfortunately, with the score 3:4, a two-minute penalty prevented CSKA from completing this comeback. The hosts took advantage of the power play and then scored into an empty net. Our 11-game winning streak has been interrupted, but we are preparing to start a new one.
