Khabarovsk was the fourth stop on CSKA's long road trip. Compared to the previous game, the Army Men's coaching staff made a few changes to the lineup. Jeremy Roy returned to the lineup after missing three games, Oleg Maistrenko replaced Denis Zernov on the offensive line, and there was a switch among the young defensemen, with Ivan Patrikhaev getting ice time over Ivan Yukin. Alexander Samonov was in net this time.
The first scoring chance of the game was actually at our end, but Samonov made the save. But as the game went on, our team looked better. Denis Guryanov had a chance to score but missed from a sharp angle; there were also opportunities on the power play. Amur had a dangerous rush, too. But for a long time, it was a scoreless tie. CSKA scored two quick goals late in the second. Marat Khairullin opened the scoring, perfectly deflecting Jeremy Roy's long-range blast. And just half a minute before the intermission, our team executed a lethal counter-attack. Maxim Mamin set up Derek Barach for an uncontested shot, and the American legioner made no mistake. Trailing 2-0 in the third, the hosts had to press the attack, but CSKA seemed to stifle all their attacks with ease. Even on the power play, Amur couldn't create anything dangerous around our net. Late in the game, Khabarovsk couldn't generate a final push because our defense kept them from setting up in the offensive zone. Alexander Samonov recorded his second clean sheet of the road trip. The final road game will be played in Togliatti on September 25th.
