Dmitry Gamzin started in goal for the matchout against the SKA in St. Petersburg, the field players weren't touched. The teams share neighboring places in the standings, so the victory was crucially important in terms of the tournament.
In the first period our team defended a lot, and the offensive game didn't go as expected. SKA stroked first at 03:00 after a precise shot by Nikolai Goldobin. A close call for CSKA with Rhett Gardner, who made a 2-on-2 breakaway with Vitaly Abramov while shorthanded, but the SKA goalkeeper Yegor Zavragin was on the spot to catch it glove it down. Our team returned uplifted after the break and dominated the second period. In the very first minute of this period, Nikolai Kovalenko capitalized on the power play after a pass from Dmitry Buchelnikov. Igor Nikitins team kept on forechecking Zavragin net; a goal was rippening as scoring moments went in. And the forechecking naturally ended up in the second goal. Pavel Karnaukhov and Ivan Drozdov drove the net and buried the puck, with Drozdov scoring the winning touch. SKA scored in return, but it was successfully challenged by the CSKA coaching staff. The scoring attack was preceded by an offside position. Having seized the initiative, the army men gripped it tight. Colby Williams' shot hit the mark early in the third period with Prokhor Poltapov assist by creating active traffic in front of the goalkeeper. But there was no simple ending. Vladislav Romanov cut the lead for the SKA with a circumvent shot under the crossbar. This didn't put our guys off the rhythm. Another power play goal from Daniel Sprong extended the lead again. SKA scored one goal back, but the victory still was with CSKA. We win the third game in a row.
