The Muscovites themselves are to blame. For the first time in the series, they seriously charged the Lokomotiv goalkeeper, throwing rivals at the widow. But the army’s attacks lacked aggression. And the hosts inflicted an injection on a counterattack, which was completed by the speedy Alexander Polunin, whom I called in one of the reports the heir to Sergei Mozyakin.
Of course, this comparison is far-fetched. Mozyakin is much more skilled and stubborn, with fantastic scoring instincts and an equally fantastic shot. But Polunin is a rocket. And sometimes he can give a solo number. He showed it in minute five of the third half. Having intercepted the puck after the transfer of Maxim Mamin in a foreign zone, the forward rushed through the center to the possessions of the army team, gracefully worked with a stick and threw the puck into the net. It was as if he did not notice the slow defender Fredrik Klasson dancing in front of him, and Nikita Nesterov, who jumped off the bench, did not have time to secure the Swede. The army captain could probably cover Polunin if he had not had to go around the judge Konstantin Olenin, who was in the way. This is a serious mistake by the referee, who worked on the World Cup final in 2013!
The guests have made efforts to recover. But Igor Nikitin’s pupils lay down with bones under the disk. Even having obtained the only majority for themselves, they thought more about the reliability of the rear.
Photo source: HC CSKA
… The sixth two games of the CSKA – Lokomotiv series ended in victory for the railway workers. With the same score – 3:1 in Yaroslavl. In 2017, on the day of the death of “Soviet Sports” expert Sergei Gimaev, the owners sent Dmitry Kvartalnov’s team on vacation and his coach to resign. In 2021, Andriy Skabelka’s team won the right to the seventh meeting, which somehow gave the champion 0:2 with resignation.
Today, Loko’s mentor Igor Nikitin brought back Ivan Chekhovich, who missed the last game, to the list of the author of the hat-trick in match No. 3, leaving the experienced cup fighter Yegor Averin.
It was he who was lucky to open an account already in the 3rd minute. And the grenadier Yegor Korshkov helped him, having robbed Konstantin Okulov himself in front of the gates of Adam Reideborn. The goalkeeper did not have time to blink, as the puck was delivered to the patch, and from there to the net.
Photo source: HC CSKA
For some reason, the expert of the federal channel made the young defender of the army team Nikolai Makarov last in the missed goal: they say, why didn’t he take care of Averin? More Makarov did not go out on the ice.
The champions were quick to react to the hosts’ success. Mamin caught a puck thrown from the blue line by defender Vladislav Provolnev, clipping it under the crossbar.
The second half was marked by CSKA. The scorer of the winning goal in match No. 4, Pavel Karnaukhov, taking advantage of the confusion with the change in composition of the hosts, rolled into shock position, but goalkeeper Daniil Isaev coped with his shot. Vitaly Abramov, Vladislav Kamenev, Okulov, Dietz attacked dangerously, but the goalkeeper refused to concede. Here the Muscovites would try to dig a goal in the patch, but they were reluctant to go there. Yes, and the “Bolsheviks” from the army played too slowly and predictably for the “Mensheviks”.
Photo source: HC CSKA
By the way, the army team was able to avoid defeat when their vice-captain Sergei Plotnikov spent his time in the penalty area. But Isaev got by with the undertimer of Mikhail Grigorenko, who disappeared on the ice in recent matches. As, however, and another leader of the note Anton Slepyshev.
Lokomotiv saved the victory and returned to Moscow. It is unlikely that Nikitin has forgotten the events of two years ago, when he, at the helm of CSKA, left Lokomotiv no chance in the seventh match. The railway workers then entered the CSKA Arena enslaved, their hamstrings trembling. What will the day after tomorrow be like?
STATISTICS
Lokomotiv (3) – CSKA (2) – 2:1 (1:1, 0:0, 1:0). Goals: Averin, Polunin – Mamin
Series score: 3-3 (0:2, 2:3, 6:2, 1:3, 1:0, 2:1, 29)
