CSKA wrapped up the 2025/26 KHL regular season with a game against Spartak. The game is crucial, and it's also the last rehearsal before the playoffs, which our team starts on March 23. Spartak also hoped to win in order to avoid a clash with Lokomotiv, the reigning champion, in the first round. Our team didn't calculate the odds against potential opponents, focusing on their own game. Klim Kostin returned to the CSKA lineup after getting over from an injury, and Dmitry Gamzin started in goal.
The first period was scoreless, but a few scoring chances popped up. Both teams' defenses prevailed over their offenses, and even penalties on both sides did not bring them any closer to scoring goals. Unfortunately, in the starting period the army team lost Denis Zernov, who was injured. In the second period the game became more open and spectacular. There were quite a few dangerous attacks, and the goals were not long in coming. Spartak were the first to score, their forward was able to finish off the puck that Gamzin gripped not so tight. CSKA responded with a power play goal. Prokhor Poltapov first shot, then found himself on the rebound and passed the ball to Maxim Sorkin. He was already throwing into the empty part of the goal, and the Spartak goalkeeper was saved. The army men took the lead in the third period. Klim Kostin and Sergei Kalinin outplayed the defenseman, and Sergei scored his 100th KHL goal. Spartak players got back on track thanks to a lucky rebound off the boards, which landed comfortably on the forward's crease, and Gamzin was unable to react. In the remaining time, there were chances to take two points from both teams, but it came down to overtime and then to a shootout. Accurate shots from Dmitry Buchelnikov and Nikolai Kovalenko gave CSKA victory in the derby and secured the team fourth place in the standings.
