CSKA and the Avtomobilist faced off for the first time this season. Both games against the Ural team count toward the The Firsts Cup standings, adding an extra layer of intrigue. Klim Kostin and Dmitry Samorukov returned to the lineup, with Alexander Samonov starting in goal. Otherwise, the line combinations held no surprises.
CSKA opened the game on the attack, scoring an early goal. Forechecking in the offensive zone allowed them to gain possession of the puck and attack, with Dmitry Buchelnikov scoring on the rebound. Riley Savchuk, a recent addition to CSKA, picked up his first point of the night on this play. The Army Men completely dictated the play in the first period. Unfortunately, they failed to capitalize on two power plays to extend their lead. Holding onto a one-goal deficit, the Avtomobilist stepped it up in the second period. CSKA players had to do a lot of defending, including on the penalty kill. The special teams did their job, but the opponent managed to score one even-strength goal. Our best chance of this stretch fell to Pavel Karnaukhov on a breakaway. After the second intermission, having killed off the penalty, the Army men pushed forward with strong pressure. However, they couldn't capitalize on that pressure, and the opponent answered by burying their chance on the counter-attack. Soon after, CSKA gave up another odd-man rush / scoring play to fall behind 3–1. Prokhor Poltapov seemed to throw them a lifeline, masterfully tipping a point shot. But the goal was waved off after a video review due to a high stick. Unfortunately, we didn't have any good scoring chances after that. We pulled the goalie to tie it up but gave up two empty-netters.
