The first match of the series with Severstal started unsuccessfully for CSKA. In the ninth minute of the game segment, Nikolay Makarov earned a two-minute dissmissal. The guests did not miss their chance and quickly converted the power play. Robin Press scored the goal. The starting period ended with a minimal advantage of Severstal.
After the break, CSKA were able to turn the game around. A little more than four minutes after the opening puck drop, Mikhail Grigorenko scored the first goal of CSKA in the playoffs and equalized the score - 1:1. Less than a minute passed after this puck and Vitaly Abramov already brought the CSKA club forward, successfully substituting the stick for Yaroslav Dyblenko's puck rush — 2:1. CSKA had more chances to increase the score difference. CSKA won the second period on shots on goal with a score of 19:3, but the numbers on the scoreboard did not change.
In the third period, the CSKA continued to score two goals per minute. Less than three minutes have passed since the beginning of the period, and Vitaly Abramov scored a double — 3:1. After 24 seconds, Sergey Plotnikov made the score even bigger, deflecting the puck smartly into the net — 4:1. But the guests were not going to give up either. Ilya Ivantsov scored the second goal for Severstal — 4:2. At this point, the intrigue was nipped in the bud: Sergey Plotnikov scored a double, throwing into the empty goals — 5:2. Thanks to this double, Plotnikov scored two hundred goals in the KHL. An important victory at the start of the playoffs.
