CSKA have beaten reigning KHL champions Salavat Yulaev on home ice to clinch their third win in a row and boost their claims for a play-off spot in the KHL’s Western Conference.

CSKA used to be one of the most decorated sides in Soviet Hockey, but quite a lot has changed since over the past 20 years. Now the club is struggling to return to the summit of the KHL. Facing the league's reigning champions Salavat Yulaev was an important test on the way, and the Army Men passed it.

In October 2011, they won away against the Ufa side, and on Sunday the hosts promptly showed their intentions to repeat that success.

A combination of moves around the visitors' goal culminated with Ilya Zubov's wrist shot seven minutes in.

The home side kept up their pressure, creating more goal-scoring chances, and they were soon rewarded. Tomas Surovy found the net from the blue line to extend the Army Men's lead.

The second period saw Salavat fight back with one of the league's most skillful players, a man who never gives up – Aleksandr Radulov – leading the visitors' assault. However, they only managed to break the deadlock after the second intermission. Just over a minute into the third, Igor Mirnov gave Salavat a glimmer of hope.

Radulov kept breaking through the Army Men's defense with his individual efforts, but it was not enough to equalize, and once his attempts failed, the hosts scored again.

Surovy picked up the puck, sprinted the entire length of the rink and wrapped up the scoring two minutes from time.

“We didn't think much about what Salavat would do. We tried to focus on our game, and this approach worked,” said CSKA leader Aleksey Yashin.

“We played great defensively. We managed to switch from defense to offence pretty fast and effectively. They are a very strong team, so we had to deal with some tough pressure in this game. I liked the way we played tonight, we should keep it up,” he added.

CSKA have the perfect record of two victories out of two games against current Gagarin Cup holders Salavat so far, and the Army Men are now hoping to keep up the pace to get to the play-offs.