CSKA wins Mayor of Moscow Cup

The first day of the fall brought an end to the KHL pre-season program. CSKA won the final tournament of the summer, defeating Spartak in a shootout to lift the Mayor of Moscow Cup. Elsewhere, a goal from Severstal’s Adam Liska helped Slovakia beat Kazakhstan and secure its place at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

Mayor of Moscow Cup

CSKA Moscow 4 Spartak Moscow 3 SO (1-0, 1-2, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0)

Perhaps it was no surprise that this game went the distance. Both of Spartak’s group games were tied 3-3 after 60 minutes, and CSKA started with a shoot-out win over Vityaz. In Sunday’s Mayor of Moscow Cup final, we saw another 3-3 tie before CSKA took a shoot-out verdict.

The opening goal came in the 15th minute. CSKA’s newcomer Ivan Drozdov broke the deadlock after he seized the puck on the boards, sped away from Ivan Morozov and shot through Patrik Rybar’s five-hole.

However, CSKA finished the first period with a penalty to Konstantin Okulov and after the intermission, Spartak turned the power play into a goal. Andrei Mironov’s point shot bounced into the path of Will Bitten, who fired into Ivan Prosvetov’s net. Then came two goals in a minute midway through the game: Prokhor Poltapov briefly restored CSKA’s lead, only for Mikhail Maltsev to tie it up again.

At the start of the third period, CSKA got ahead once again. This time Ruslan Iskhakov rounded the goalie to score after good work from Takhir Mingachyov on the slot. Once again, Spartak recovered. This time, Daniil Pivchulin, a 21-year-old forward making his first appearance in the tournament, forced the puck home from close range to make it 3-3 in the 53rd minute.

Overtime could not separate the teams, but in the shoot-out CSKA’s players were more accurate. Vitaly Abramov, Okulov and Drozdov all found the net to secure the trophy.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4 Dynamo Moscow 1 (1-1, 2-0, 1-0)

Dynamo looked set to get off to a good start in the third-place playoff. An early power play saw the Blue-and-Whites bear down on Ivan Bocharov’s net ... only to allow a shorthanded goal for Yegor Vinogradov after an error on the blue line.

That didn’t much disturb the Muscovites, who tied it up in the first thanks to a Dmitry Rashevsky goal eight seconds before the hooter.

After that, though, Torpedo got on top. Denis Yan made it 2-1 early in the second. After Dynamo failed to capitalize on a series of power plays, Vinogradov potted his second of the game. There was almost a second short-handed goal for Igor Larionov’s team as well; this time, though, the 35th-minute effort was called back after a successful bench challenge from Alexei Kudashov.

That was the last success for Dynamo in this game. After wasting a full two minutes of five-on-three hockey, the Blue-and-Whites allowed a fourth goal from Kirill Voronin as Torpedo clinched third place.

Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 2 Vityaz Moscow Region 5 (1-3, 1-1, 0-1)

Nicholas Baptiste scored twice to help Vityaz defeat Avtomobilist and claim fifth place at the Mayor of Moscow Cup.

Although this was only a placement game, both teams went with strong rosters and used their imports in their final pre-season action.

And one of those imports, Baptiste, was the key player for Vityaz in the opening frame. He opened the scoring in the fifth minute and restored his team’s lead after a tying goal from Alexander Sevostyanov. Ivan Vorobyov added a third late in the frame to extend the lead.

Avtomobilist pulled a goal back early in the middle frame through Nikita Tryamkin, but a Jeremy Roy power play goal ensured that Vityaz still had breathing space. The Motormen could not find a way back in the third and Ivan Savchuk’s empty-netter completed the scoring.

Olympic qualification

Kazakhstan’s bid for a place at the 2026 Olympics came up short after defeat against Slovakia in Bratislava. After wins against Hungary and Austria at the start of the final qualification tournament, the Kazakhs knew that another victory against the host nation would send it to the Games in Milan. However, Slovakia, bronze medallists in Beijing in 2022, proved too strong.

The Slovaks included defensemen Martin Gernat (Lokomotiv) and Mario Grman (Admiral) on the team, as well as Severstal forward Adam Liska. All three of them contributed a goal: Gernat was on target in the opening 2-1 victory over Austria, Grman scored in a 7-3 romp against Hungary and Liska potted the third goal in Sunday’s 3-1 success against Kazakhstan.

For the Kazakhs, there were encouraging performances from Dmitry Breus and Tamirlan Gaitamirov, both of whom scored their first international goals. Metallurg’s Nikita Mikhailis picked up a hat-trick against Hungary and scored on Slovakia in Sunday’s game, leading the tournament with four goals. Goalie Andrei Shutov also caught the eye, especially in a hard-working 2-1 win against the Austrians. But Oleg Bolyakin’s team came up short in the decisive game against a powerful Slovak team and the country’s wait for its first Olympic action since 2006 goes on.

Elsewhere, Latvia defeated France 5-2 in Riga to secure its place. The French team featured Avtomobilist’s Stephane Da Costa, who scored 5 (2+3) points in the competition. However, his third-period consolation goal was too little, too late in the deciding game. Two goals from Nicklas Jensen helped Denmark beat Norway 4-1 in Aalborg to return to the Olympics after making its debut in Beijing.