Travel-weary Lev
Lev Poprad had its first taste of world hockey’s most grueling journey - but could not get any reward from its 7,490km trip to Amur Khabarovsk. Despite taking the lead in the first period, the Slovak side could not hold on and eventually went down to a 4-1 defeat in the Russian Far East. Alexander Nikulin (1+1) took his points haul to four from the past two games, while Alexei Kopeikin also finished with a goal and an assist. Meanwhile Petr Vrana followed his hat-trick of assists in the 8-0 win over CSKA with his first goal in five to tie the game in the second period. The game had started brightly for Lev, however, and especially 21-year-old forward Ales Jezek, who got his first ever KHL goal in only his third appearance to make it 1-0 on 18:05. But Amur proved a long way in front by the final siren.
