The “locomotive” rushed into a dead end. CSKA withstood the pressure and won

CSKA Adam Reideborn faced 35 shots, the away goalkeeper Daniil Isaev got into the match three times less often. However, in the third period, the hosts waited for chances in attack and stung the rail twice. The winning goal was scored by the one they least expected – home defender Yaroslav Dyblenko.

For the first time before the CSKA-Lokomotiv series, the Yaroslavl team was called (sometimes in a whisper) the favorite. Even in 2017, when the railroad removed the army team (4-2), which won the regular season, from the race, the Muscovites had a higher price. By the way, that series started in Moscow with the victory of the hosts. And in 2021, in the opening match of the series, Andrey Skabelka’s team defeated Igor Nikitin’s champion team 2:0. Here, at the CSKA Arena. With great difficulty, the favorite put Lokomotiv under pressure in seven meetings (4-3).

… The railwaymen got off to such a powerful start that the hosts did not even think of attacking. The entire first term was spent in the Reideborn area. But the Swede repulsed all 12 shots, while the army squad answered with only one. Artur Kayumov, Stepan Nikulin, Maxim Beryozkin missed their chances without turning quantity into quality.

After the break, the picture hasn’t changed much. Alexander Polunin, Georgy Ivanov, again Nikulin attacked in vain from lethal positions.

Sergei Fedorov’s team was helped to catch its breath by the stupid removal of railwayman Yegor Korshkov for ejecting the puck. The brigades of most of the army were unimpressed. And when Andrei Svetlakov went to the penalty area, committing a foul in a foreign zone, the guests simply forgave the violator of the rules. Maxim Shalunov with a one-touch shot from his office missed the empty goal. Reideborn did not have time to move to the far corner, but the puck hit the net from the outside. As the voice of Soviet sports, Nikolai Ozerov said, “there will be no more such moments.” And so it happened.

At the beginning of the third period, from a delayed penalty (defender Nikita Cherepanov grabbed Matvey Guskov’s stick with his hand), Maxim Mamin won back the puck, and Andrei Sergeyev in the corner and found Dyblenko rushing to goal on the second pole. It was hard to miss from two meters.

And five minutes later the home side strengthened their lead by punishing Ivanov for Konstantin Okulov’s dismissal. You can’t blame such a foul – the railwayman shot down the army squad, which went one-on-one with Isaev.

This time, the “Bolsheviks” of the hosts worked brilliantly simply: Darren Dietz shot from the blue line and the puck bounced off the “screen” in front of Pavel Karnaukhov who dived on goal.

From such a double blow the guests did not recover. Even in the majority, they were rewarded with at least one comeback record. 2.5 minutes before the siren, they removed the goalkeeper and miraculously did not enter an empty net. For some reason, the Beijing Olympian and captain of the Russian national team at the 2021 World Cup Anton Slepyshev did not want to decorate his 500th anniversary match in the KHL with a goal. His example was followed by one of the leaders in the run of playoff scorers, Mikhail Grigorenko. Maybe they decided to save goals for the next games?

After the final siren, Lokomotiv coach Igor Nikitin was painful to watch. He turned black with defeat.

– Why did you lose, having created so many chances? Because it’s CSKA! Nikitin summed up daconically.

This can be understood by looking at the numbers in the statistics: 13-35 on shots on goal, 20-18 on blocked shots, 24-32 on faceoffs. Only in the struggle for power did the hosts surpass the visitors.

– The guys competently played in their positions, on the throwing line, on rebounds, and the goalkeeper was in place, – Fedorov commented on the victory.

STATISTICS

CSKA-locomotive-2:0 (0:0, 0:0, 2:0).

Goals: Dyblenko, Karnauchov

Score of the series: 1-0 (19, 21, 23, 25*, 27*, 29* March)

* If necessary.