CSKA made their debut at the newly opened Volga Arena in Nizhny Novgorod. For the game against Torpedo, the coaching staff deployed the exact same lineup as in Sochi. With their confidence restored by the previous victory, the Army Men looked sharp right from the opening whistle today. CSKA controlled the opening period and naturally capped it off with a goal against Torpedo. Set up by Ivan Patrikhaev, the former Nizhny Novgorod forward Nikolai Kovalenko sniped a beautiful high shot. Derek Barach scored his first goal for CSKA in the second period. He cleaned up the rebound after Pavel Karnaukhov's shot and buried the puck. But it was never going to be easy against a resilient opponent. Torpedo quickly answered with a power-play goal. Then the game started getting chippy. Oleg Maistrenko and the Torpedo's Ronald Briki were tossed from the game after a mutual altercation. Then the Army Men were left down two men, but strong play from Alexander Samonov and the penalty kill unit kept it a one-goal game. A minor scuffle broke out just before the third-period puck drop. But our players kept their composure and didn't get distracted. After weathering the storm on defense, the Army Men found their chance on the attack. Zamula made yet another successful rush into the play, roofing a spectacular shot over the goaltender. The puck bounced out of the net so fast, it took a video review to confirm it crossed the goal line. That goal stood up as the game-winner for CSKA, but they had to grind it out until the final buzzer. The hosts scored on the power play again and threw everything at the net with an extra skater late in the game. But our boys didn't blink and locked down their second straight win.
