CSKA faces Jokerit before New Year’s pause!

The Jokers travel to Moscow to face CSKA before the KHL takes a pause until Monday for the New Year festivities. In the meantime, Dinamo Riga faces Torpedo in Nizhny Novgorod. Five games are on tap on the last 2021 KHL matchday.

If there’s a team Jokerit finds hard to deal with is CSKA – the Helsinki side is yet to defeat them this season, and both teams are tied at 58 points in the standings (with CSKA having a game fewer). Jokerit had a nice morale boost on a sound victory over Kunlun Red Star on Tuesday but defeating the Sergei Fedorov’s men won’t be easy.

Dinamo Riga travels to Nizhny Novgorod to try and surpass Vityaz as the West’s second-last team, but Torpedo is fighting for a postseason qualification, and they will battle for the win with any necessary mean.

In the East, fireworks are to be expected when Avangard hosts Traktor – both teams are on a winning streak and it will be very hard to predict a winner. The battle for the Western Conference’s top spot will also concern Dynamo Moscow other than Jokerit and CSKA – the Blue-and-Whites travel to Cherepovets after a remarkable comeback in the Moscow derby against the Red Army. A showdown between Sochi and Vityaz completes the KHL matchday.

16:00: Avangard (26-15-2, 5^th E) vs Traktor (31-11-3, 2^nd E)

About the game
Avangard plays its lone home game of the series and is on a four-match winning streak.

Traktor, who has already defeated Avangard this season (4:3), ends a two-match road trip and won its previous three games.

Avangard’s defenseman Oliwer Kaski is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (2+2) points over that span.

Avangard’s forward Arseny Gritsyuk is on a four-game scoring streak, with 5 (3+2) points.

Traktor’s forward Lukas Sedlak is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (2+2) points.

Traktor’s forward Teemu Pulkkinen is also on a three-game scoring streak, with 6 (3+3) points.

Traktor’s forward Tomas Hyka is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (2+1) points.

Traktor’s defenseman Daniil Isayev is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (1+2) points.

Injury list

Avangard: Yaroslav Kosov.

Traktor: Alexei Byvaltsev, Sergei Kalinin.

Milestone alert

Avangard’s forward Kirill Semyonov may reach 200 KHL points tonight (currently at 199).

19:00: Severstal (24-12-7, 5^th W) vs Dynamo Moscow (29-11-3, 2^nd W)

About the game

Severstal is in the middle of a three-game home series and lost to Vityaz on Tuesday.

Dynamo Moscow plays its second of a four-game road trip and is on a three-match winning streak.
The Blue-and-Whites have already defeated Severstal this season (3:2).

Dynamo Moscow’s forward Vadim Shipachyov is on a three-game scoring streak, with 7 (3+4) points over that span.

Dynamo Moscow’s defenseman Vyacheslav Voynov had six assists over his latest three games.

Dynamo Moscow’s forward Oscar Lindberg is on a three-game scoring streak, with 5 (4+1) points.

Injury list

Dynamo Moscow: Vladislav Yefremov.

19:00: Torpedo (20-17-6, 9^th W) vs Dinamo Riga (13-20-9, 12^th W)

About the game

Torpedo ends a two-game home series and is on a two-match losing streak.

Dinamo Riga starts a three-game road trip and lost to Avangard on Tuesday.

Torpedo has already defeated Dinamo Riga once this season (3:1) and lost twice (1:2, 3:4 SO).

Torpedo’s goalie Alexei Murygin is on a 95:02 shutout streak.

Torpedo’s forward Damir Zhafyarov is on a ten-game scoring streak, with 14 (4+10) points over that span.

Torpedo’s forward Kenny Agostino is on a seven-game scoring streak, with 11 (4+7) points.

Torpedo’s forward Andy Miele is on an eight-game scoring streak, with 11 (6+5) points.

Injury list

Torpedo: Daniel Zaar.
Dinamo Riga: Nerijus Alisauskas, Daniels Berzins, Alexander Protapovich, Kristaps Sotnieks.

Milestone alert

Dinamo Riga’s forward Martins Karsums may reach 200 points in the KHL (currently at 198).

19:30: HC Sochi (17-21-5, 10^th W) vs Vityaz (13-19-11, 11^th W)

About the game

HC Sochi is in the middle of a five-game home series and lost its previous three matches.

Vityaz ends a two-game road trip and defeated Severstal on Tuesday.

HC Sochi has defeated Vityaz twice this season (6:5 OT, 3:1), and lost once (2:3 OT).

Vityaz’s forward Fyodor Malykhin is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (2+1) points over that span.

Injury list

HC Sochi: Yegor Babenko, Yaroslav Dyblenko.

Vityaz: Ivan Volodin, Alexander Yaremchuk.

Milestone alert

Vityaz’s forward Yegor Voronkov lines up for his 300^th KHL game.

19:30: CSKA (27-12-4, 4^th W) vs Jokerit (26-12-6, 3^rd W)

About the game

CSKA plays the third of a six-game home series and lost to Dynamo Moscow on Tuesday.

Jokerit plays its lone road game of the series and defeated Kunlun Red Star also on Tuesday.

CSKA has already defeated Jokerit twice this season (3:2 OT, 3:1), and his forward Pavel Karnaukhov is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (2+1) points over that span.

Jokerit’s forward Teemu Turunen is also on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (1+2) points.

Injury list

CSKA: Nikita Rtishchev, Anton Slepyshev, Danil Yurtaikin.

Jokerit: Henrik Haapala.

Milestone alert

CSKA’s forward Konstantin Okulov lines up for his 400^th KHL game.