Traktor moves to Novosibirsk after a home loss to SKA

The Chelyabinsk franchise is still one of the Eastern Conference leaders but suffered from a disappointing 0:2 defeat on Wednesday against SKA. Traktor moves to Novosibirsk trying to forget about the performance.

Only one game is on tap on a light KHL Saturday as the second Euro Hockey Tour pause of the season is getting closer and closer. Sibir welcomes Traktor after a shutout win over Neftekhimik on Wednesday – the team led by Andrei Martemyanov starts a long, eight-game home series and will want to secure as many points as possible to enlarge the gap over the conference rivals for a playoff spot.

On the other hand, Traktor is still chasing Magnitka in the standings – a road win would mean for them an opportunity to get to the EHT pause tasting the victory, and get two points closer to Metallurg.

13:30: Sibir (20-14-4, 6^th E) vs Traktor (27-10-3, 2^nd E)

About the game
Sibir starts an eight-game home series fresh off a victory over Neftekhimik on Wednesday.
Traktor starts a two-game road trip after a loss to SKA, also on Wednesday.
Traktor won twice over Sibir this season (3:2 OT, 3:2 SO), and lost once (0:2).
Sibir’s goalie Harri Sateri is on an 89:39 shutout streak.
Sibir’s defenseman Trevor Murphy is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (2+2) points over that span.
Traktor’s forward Vitaly Kravtsov had an assist in each of his previous three games.

Injury list
Traktor: Alexei Byvaltsev, Vyacheslav Osnovin.

Milestone alert
Traktor’s forward Teemu Pulkkinen lines up for his 200^th KHL game.