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Top teams clash tonight
SKA is in an excellent eight-win streak, while Metallurg is struggling against the top Western teams, but tonight will have a chance to rebound back. Magnitka, however, is still leading the East, and an away win over SKA would certainly be a good morale boost for the Urals side, who suffered from two consecutive losses against Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv.
The Railwaymen, on their hand, will face Torpedo again. They shut the Nizhny Novgorod side out on Oct 28 with a double courtesy of Artur Kayumov, and are currently one place ahead being the West’s fourth seed. However, Torpedo managed to defeat them early in the season, thus unpredictability is again a key word here.
Another two games are on tap tonight – first, Avtomobilist hosts Sibir with the Motormen defeating twice their former coach’s team this season; then, Neftekhimik hosts Salavat Yulaev. The Wolves just defeated CSKA in OT on Thursday, while the Ufa franchise is on a rare, for this season, two-loss streak.
13:00: Torpedo (15-9-1, 5th W) vs Lokomotiv (16-6-3, 4th W)
About the game
Torpedo starts a three-game home series fresh off a win over Vityaz on Tuesday (1:3).
Lokomotiv starts a four-game road trip on a three-match winning streak.
Each team has already defeated the other once this season (3:1, 0:2).
Torpedo, who will be led by its assistant coach Mikhail Vorobyov tonight, won its previous six home games against Lokomotiv, with the latest defeat dated Mar 07, 2018 (2:3 OT).
Lokomotiv’s goalie Ivan Bocharov is on a 138:56 shutout streak.
Injury list
Torpedo: Kenny Agostino, Mikhail Orlov, Yu Sato.
Lokomotiv: Yegor Averin, Alexei Marchenko.
Milestone alert
Lokomotiv’s defenseman Nikita Cherepanov lines up for his 400th KHL game.
14:30: Avtomobilist (16-8-1, 3rd E) vs Sibir (14-10-3, 4th E)
About the game
Avtomobilist ends a three-game home series and won against Amur on Thursday (4:2).
Sibir is at its third of a four-game road trip and lost its previous couple of matches.
Avtomobilist has already defeated Sibir twice this season (5:2, 5:3).
Sibir’s forward Vladimir Butuzov is on a five-game scoring streak, with 6 (2+4) points over that span.
Injury list
Avtomobilist: Stepan Khripunov, Alexei Makeyev, Sergei Shirokov.
Milestone alert
Avtomobilist’s goalie Igor Bobkov may record his 30th KHL shutout.
Sibir’s forward Anton Shenfeld may reach the 200-point mark tonight (currently at 199).
17:00: Neftekhimik (10-14-1, 10th E) vs Salavat Yulaev (15-5-5, 2nd E)
About the game
Neftekhimik is in the middle of a three-game home series and defeated CSKA on Thursday (4:3 OT).
Salavat Yulaev, who has already defeated Neftekhimik this season (4:0), is in the middle of a three-game road trip and lost two matches in a row.
Neftekhimik defeated Salavat Yulaev at home most recently on Nov 27, 2017 (3:2), but his forwards Anthony Camara and Evgeny Mityakin are on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (1+2) points over that span.
Injury list
Neftekhimik: Emil Garipov.
Salavat Yulaev: Josh Ho-Sang.
Milestone alert
Salavat Yulaev’s defenseman Pavel Koledov may reach 100 KHL points tonight (currently at 99).
17:00: SKA (24-1-1, 1st W) vs Metallurg (17-6-3, 1st E)
About the game
SKA ends a two-game home series and is on an eight-match winning streak.
Metallurg ends a three-game road trip and lost its previous couple of matches.
SKA’s defenseman Alexander Nikishin is on a five-game scoring streak, with 5 (1+4) points over that span.
Injury list
SKA: Emil Galimov, Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi.
Milestone alert
Metallurg’s Andrei Chibisov lines up for his 400th KHL game tonight, while Nikolai Goldobin may score his 100th point (currently at 99).
