Paying the penalty
CSKA exacted maximum punishment for Dinamo Riga’s ill-discipline when the sides met in Moscow. The Latvians were leading 1-0, but ran into penalty trouble in the third period. With a 5-on-3 powerplay CSKA tied it up thanks to a powerful shot from Alexander Guskov, flashing past Christopher Holt from just inside the blue line. Then boy wonder Nikita Filatov, back from North America to play for his home club, converted the second opportunity just 44 seconds later. Then, with more penalties against Dinamo in the closing moments, there was no way back for Riga.
Bushuyev at the double
Eastern Conference leaders Traktor Chelyabinsk suffered a shock home defeat to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg thanks to Nikolai Bushuyev. The forward opened the scoring in the 26th minute, only for Evgeny Kuznetsov to level things just before the half-hour mark. But with the game tied at 1-1 it was Bushuyev who stepped up to convert the winning penalty shot in the shoot-out and continue Traktor’s stuttering run. The Chelyabinsk side has now failed to get a regulation time win in its last six games.
