Dynamo Moscow beat CSKA in the KHL regular season match – 4:2

In the Fonbet regular championship of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Dynamo Moscow beat CSKA – 4:2. The blue and white with 70 points still share the lead in the Western Conference with Lokomotiv, which defeated Lada in a shootout – 3:2.

The third derby between CSKA and Dynamo in the current KHL championship took place at a time when the army team, it seems, had finally caught on to their game and began to look like the same “red-blue machine” that won two Gagarin Cups in a row. Sergei Fedorov’s team won four victories and, of course, was eager to extend this streak, and at the same time partially get even with the blue and white for two defeats with the same result of 1:4.

However, Dynamo was in perfect order and competed in absentia for the championship in the Western Conference with Lokomotiv. The leaders had 68 points each, and the Yaroslavl team was ahead of the Moscow club only in additional indicators. They visited Lada in Togliatti and encountered stubborn resistance. The main and extra time of the meeting ended in a 2:2 draw, but in the shootout the railway workers still prevailed, thus maintaining their lead with 70 points. By the way, Metallurg, which ranks first in the East, also achieved success. Magnitogorsk defeated the worst team in the league, Sochi, at home – 4:1, and now they have 72 points.

As for the central match of the day at the CSKA Arena, despite its adherence to principles, the opponents, as if by agreement, entrusted the place in the goal to young goalkeepers.

And if the 21-year-old Dynamo goalkeeper Maxim Motorygin, one might say, won the competition for the position of number one, then his 20-year-old army colleague Dmitry Gamzin unexpectedly replaced Ivan Fedotov, who had been acting very reliably lately. Moreover, Dynamo quickly soaked Gamzin – after Yegor Rimashevsky’s breakthrough along the right edge reached the goal with a throw into the far corner and a rebound off the post.

In the first period, Fedotov’s replacement made a brilliant save when he stopped Dmitry Rashevsky’s one-to-one goal. But when the guests earned the majority, Gamzin gave up in front of the experienced Nikita Gusev, who insidiously put the puck under his shield. Thus, the 31-year-old Dynamo striker scored the 63rd point using the goal-plus-pass system and topped the list of top scorers in the current championship. Before the break, the hosts were unable to find the key to Motorygin, as well as to the blue and white defense as a whole, although they attacked in total for more than a minute more.

In the second twenty minutes, CSKA found itself in an even more difficult position, conceding the third goal. Gamzin, apparently, simply did not see Ivan Muranov’s mid-range throw, since the two-meter Andrei Nikonov was loitering in front of him on the spot. The Army team tried to get back into the game when defender Colby Williams reduced the difference to two goals with a heroic flick. In particular, then they had the majority, but Motorygin kept the goal locked, and in one of the episodes he almost by force of will made Andrei Svetlakov miss. It’s good that the red-blues were saved by Gamzin when Brennan Menell rolled out on him alone. They again spent more time in the attacking zone and even noticeably outscored their opponents – 20:9, but ended the period with a score of 1:1.

In the opening of the third period of the match, Dynamo gave the army team another chance to realize their numerical advantage, but their special teams again did not use it. At the same time, Motorygin was no longer particularly tense. CSKA generally looked surprisingly passive and could not organize any noticeable pressure in the positional attack.

It seems that Fedorov’s team splashed out too much in the previous meeting with Torpedo, with whom they are now fighting for fifth place in the conference and which they defeated 7:2.

In addition, they took two precious minutes from themselves when Vitaly Abramov got sent off. A minute and a half before the siren, the hosts removed Gamzin and released the field player. Anton Slepyshev even scored in a six-on-five format, punishing Nikonov, who had missed the empty net a little earlier. But Cedric Paquette, when CSKA was again left without a goalkeeper, accurately threw the puck from his zone and brought Dynamo a victory – 4:2. It is curious that one of his assistants was Motorygin, who was quite successful in becoming the first star of the match, having also repelled 39 shots.

Dynamo with 70 points caught up with Lokomotiv, but the army team, with 56 points, are now five points behind Torpedo. After all, the Nizhny Novgorod team defeated Dynamo Minsk on the road – 3:0.

Alexander Ilyin