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Captain’s double gives CSKA the verdict. November 15 round-up
Two goals from Nikita Nesterov gave CSKA a narrow victory over Amur. However, it needed a 56th-minute power play goal to give the defending champion the verdict in Wednesday’s only KHL action.
CSKA Moscow 2 Amur Khabarovsk 1 (0-0, 1-0, 1-1)
The Tigers arrived in Moscow on the back of a win over Torpedo that lifted them into the playoff places in the East. CSKA, meanwhile, ended a three-game skid on Monday but didn’t greatly impress in a 2-1 success against Neftekhimik. Today’s result moves Sergei Fedorov’s team up to fifth, but the eight-point gap to ninth-placed Sochi has as much to do with the poor form of the bottom three teams in the West as it does with the results displayed by last season’s Gagarin Cup winner.
Today’s game got off to a slow start. The first period was goalless, and while Amur fired in plenty of shots at Dmitry Gamzin in the CSKA net, there were few clear cut scoring chances. The visitor did get the puck past Gamzin early on, but the officials immediately called back the play: the puck slipped under the side netting while the goal was raised from its moorings.
In the second period, CSKA stepped up its game. In the first session, the home team had a territorial advantage but offered little end product. In the middle frame, there was greater determination to get pucks to the net and give Igor Bobkov something to think about. The visiting defense worked hard to protect the goalie, blocking 11 efforts, but Nesterov broke the deadlock in the 26th minute when he fired home a one-timer from the circle off a Mikhail Grigorenko feed.
Amur was still in the game, and got the chance to draw level midway through the third period. A power play handed the initiative to the visitor and, after some careful build-up work, Alexander Shchemerov blasted home from the center of the zone to tie the scores.
The sparked CSKA back into life. Nesterov had a chance almost immediately, then Viktor Baldayev took a tripping call and handed the home team a power play. The extra man helped the home team set up Nesterov on the blue line and he fired home his second of the game to give his team the edge.
