CSKA recovers from 1-3, but Sochi wins shoot-out. October 20 round-up

HC Sochi picked up a second successive victory, claiming a shoot-out verdict at CSKA. The Muscovites slipped to a fourth straight loss, and a sixth in seven games. However, it’s notable that each of those last four defeats came in the extras.

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

Today’s game saw CSKA dominate at the start, only to fall 1-3 down with less than 10 minutes to play. A big fightback tied the game in the final minute, but Sochi held its nerve to take a shoot-out win.

The home team was on top in the early exchanges and, midway through the first period, the shot count was 10-2 in CSKA’s favor. Despite that pressure, the opening goal did not arrive until the 19th minute when Yegor Fateyev glided across the slot to redirect a Fredrik Claesson point shot. Fateyev improves to three goals from five games.

After the intermission, Sochi improved. The visitor tied the game on the power play in the 26th minute. Captain Artur Tyanulin played the puck off the left-hand boards for Ilya Fedotov to score at the back door. That extends Tyanulin’s hot streak to nine games (4+9 points) while Fedotov marked his 100th KHL game with his first goal of the season.

Midway through the third period, the visitor seemed to secure a decisive lead. First, Artyom Volkov put Sochi in front in the 49th minute when he collected Denis Vengryzhanovsky’s pass from behind the net and unleashed a one-timer from the left-hand circle. Four minutes later, Daniil Seroukh doubled the advantage from a similar position, wrapping up a neat passing move.

Shortly after Sochi’s third goal the game was marred by an unpleasant incident when Sochi’s Danil Mokrushev sustained a cut to the face. As CSKA pressured the visitor’s net, Mokrushev fell and home forward Vitaly Abramov inadvertently caught him the face with his skate. The injured defenseman was immediately taken for treatment.

After that, the home team staged an impressive recovery to take the game to overtime. Abramov plundered two goals, the first on the power play and the second just 11 seconds from time, to salvage a point for CSKA.

However, that was as good as it got for the Muscovites. CSKA had to kill a penalty in overtime and, despite escaping without allowing a goal, could not finish the job in the shoot-out. Danil Avershin and Timur Khafizov beat Prosvetov with their attempts to secure the verdict for the visitor.