Red Army prevails one more time

CSKA Moscow – HC SLOVAN Bratislava  4:1 (1:0, 0:1, 3:0)

Goals: 5. Radulov A. (Širokov, Datsyuk), 47. Žarkov (Davis, Sprukts), 49. Grabovski (Datsyuk), 59. Rylov (Davis, Žarkov)- 33. Vondrka (Miklík, Sigalet)

Shots: 24:14, penalties: 2:5, powerplay goals: 0:1, shorthanded goals: 0:0, officials:  Belov, Romasko - Michel, Šichanov

Rosters:

CSKA Moscow:  Bryzgalov - Rylov, Rjasenskij, Denisov, Mäenpää, Marčenko, Kondratev, Sergejev, Gimajev - Širokov(C), Radulov A. , Datsyuk - Davis, Grigorenko, Grabovskij - Zubov, Žarkov, Persson - Sprukts, Barbašev, Ľubimov.
HC SLOVAN Bratislava: Janus - Sigalet, Višňovský, Štajnoch, Sekera, Švarný, Tabaček - Bližňák, Vondrka, Miklík - Bartovič, Hudáček, Lipianský (C) - Kukumberg, Dravecký, Kytnár - Mikúš, Šťastný, Ölvecký - Kudrna, Daňo

HC SLOVAN Bratislava began their fourth game of their road trip passively. In the opening seconds of the game, the top scorer for the opponents, Alexander Radulov went dangerously close to opening the score. Our players focused on their defensive duties and play a counterattacking game, however, their chances were few and far between. In the 5^th minute, Alexander Radulov put a backhand effort past Jaroslav Janus. Immediately after this, Bartovič caused chaos in front of Bryzgalov in the CSKA goal, but the defensive unit was able to deal with the problem. CSKA went to the powerplay a couple of times in the first period, but HC SLOVAN’s defence was up to the task and restricted CSKA to mainly chances from the outside.

The second period brought an improved performance out of HC SLOVAN. Both teams began trading chances, with Mikúš going close for HC SLOVAN. 40 seconds later though, it was Janus who would shine, making an incredible save on Grabovski in the 28^th minute. It took a powerplay chance for HC SLOVAN to finally generate some good offensive play, as a good interchange between Miklik and Sigalet opened up the play, and Michal Vondrka fired a hard shot which beat Bryzgalov. However, HC SLOVAN could not build on their advantage, as CSKA took the upper hand once again, forcing more astonishing saves from Janus.

CSKA began the third period on the powerplay, but failed once again to make the man advantage count. However, in the 44^th minute, disaster struck for HC SLOVAN as defenceman Martin Štajnoch went down and had to be stretchered off the ice, leaving the club with only five defencemen for the rest of the game. CSKA gradually created a lot of pressure and in the 47^th minute, Zharkov shot between the circles and found the top right corner to make it 2:1. About two minutes later it was 3:1 when a very similar shot from the same area saw Grabovski beat Janus. HC SLOVAN struggled to mount a comeback as the minutes ticked down, and CSKA capped off the game with a goal from Yakov Rylov in the 59^th minute.