Following a near collapse at the hands of Ak Bars Kazan after a 3-1 series lead, CSKA Moscow captured their second straight Gagarin Cup in Moscow, upending the Leopards 3-2 in the finals.

After completing their own 3-1 comeback in last year’s final against Metallurg Magnitogorsk, CSKA dropped Games Five and Six by 2-1 and 3-0 scores, forcing a decisive Game Seven in Moscow. CSKA was looking to avoid what they inflicted on Metallurg the previous year, while Ak Bars was looking to make history of their own in enemy territory. It was a tight affair throughout, with Ak Bars opening the scoring on a Kirill Petrov goal just as the first period was ending. However, Anton Slepyshev answered back 15 seconds into the second period, evening things at 1-1.

Kazan would retake the lead at 27:16 with a Dmitri Voronkov goal, but the Red Army would again even things up quickly, with Vladislav Kamenev needing just under three minutes to even the score. But it was Darren Dietz, just 76 seconds later, with a blast from the point that beat Timur Bilyalov through a screen from the point, that would set the score at 3-2. The Muscovites, and goaltender Adam Reideborn in particular, would shut the game down for the entire second half, locking out the Leopards and capturing their third Gagarin Cup in team history, following wins in both 2019 and last year.

Our congratulations go out to the players, management and fans of CSKA Moscow, with those on the roster that have also held the IHLC highlighted in bold:

Photo Credit: Gazeta – IIHF – HHOF – IOC