Karnaukhov hat-trick fires CSKA past SKA 6-5 in 11-goal KHL classic

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Eleven goals at CSKA Arena, and the winning side was the one that got outshot and out-possessed. SKA St. Petersburg fired 34 shots to CSKA Moscow's 29 and carried 55% of the puck — and still left Moscow beaten 6-5.

Vasily Atanasov opened the scoring at minute 6, finishing a Zakhar Bardakov setup. Pavel Karnaukhov answered at 11 from Klim Kostin, Nikolai Kovalenko put CSKA in front at 14 off Denis Gurianov, and the first period ended 2-1. Atanasov levelled at 22, Kovalenko restored the lead a minute later — Gurianov assisting again — then Rocco Grimaldi tied it at 26 from Nikolai Chebykin. Karnaukhov took over from there: 4-3 at 38, 5-3 at 40, the second set up by Egor Zamula, and CSKA went into the break two clear.

Dmitri Buchelnikov made it 6-3 at 45, Ivan Drozdov collecting his third assist of the night. SKA refused to fold: Nikita Dishkovsky struck at 46 from Vladislav Romanov, and Romanov himself cut the gap to 6-5 at 50, assisted by Andrey Pedan. SKA finished 2-for-3 on the power play, CSKA 0-for-1 — Yegor Savikov's minor at 47 handed CSKA their only man advantage, and it went unused. The last ten minutes brought no further goals, Alexander Samonov closing out a 29-save night.

Karnaukhov's hat-trick came on just four shots, the decisive pair arriving two minutes apart to flip a 3-3 game. Drozdov set up three, Kovalenko scored twice, and Nikita Nesterov added two assists from the blue line. Sergei Ivanov stopped 23 of the 29 shots he faced.

CSKA took six penalty minutes to SKA's two and survived all of it. SKA won the shot count and the puck — Karnaukhov won the night.