Costly errors create more Moscow frustration

25 March 2026

It was more disappointment for SKA at the CSKA Arena on Wednesday evening, with several defensive mistakes resulting in a lacklustre 2:4 setback in game two.

Our team do now trail 0-2 in the first round of the 2025/2026 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs.

SKA immediately took the initiative thanks to an interference penalty taken by Nikita Nesterov.

Joe Blandisi took full advantage of that powerplay opportunity, carefully backhanding in when collecting Yegor Savikov’s deflected attempt.

Eager to respond, CSKA quickly set about pressing SKA with their tenacious, aggressive approach across the ice.

The quick Denis Guryanov was particularly lively, testing Artemiy Pleshkov on two occasions and regularly bursting behind our back line.

CSKA’s equaliser arrived in rather unfortunate circumstances with a mere eight seconds remaining on the clock.

Savikov’s seemingly routine pass took a wicked ricochet and fell directly on the stick of the grateful Pavel Karnaukhov, who bundled it past Pleshkov.

Buoyed by that goal, CSKA subsequently bossed the majority of the second stanza with our team struggling to match the Muscovites’ sharpness.

And, after Nikolai Goldobin and Rocco Grimaldi had been foiled by Gamzin when in inviting positions, the hosts took their first lead of the series midway through an otherwise uneventful period.

The clean-through Guryanov aimed his initial shot against Pleshkov’s pads, but unchallenged he gave our goalkeeper no chance with the ensuing rebound.

That did indeed turn out to be the decisive moment.

Masters of controlling such situations in tight knockout games, CSKA practically killed the match as a contest at the start of the third period, with Takhir Mingachyov pouncing on another sloppy error and Dmitry Buchelnikov converting an eye-catching individual effort on the powerplay.

Nikita Dishkovsky did tally a late second marker for us with a clever wrister from the doorstep after Pleshkov had been pulled for the extra skater, but there wasn’t enough time to threaten a comeback.

The third match of the series will take place in Saint Petersburg on Friday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time.

Match protocol:

CSKA – SKA – 4:2 (1:1, 1:0, 2:1)

Goals:

0:1 Blandisi (Savikov, Khairullin), 01.43 PPG

1:1 Karnaukov, 19.52

2:1 Guryanov (Kovalenko), 30.02

3:1 Mingachyov (Gardner, Kalinin), 42.16

4:1 Buchelnikov (Poltapov, Sorkin), 46.11 PPG

4:2 Dishkovsky (Korotky, Plotnikov), 58.14

Goalkeepers: Gamzin – Pleshkov

Shots: 48 – 54