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Salavat Yulaev travels to Kazakhstan hoping to revert the trend!
The matchday starts in Novosibirsk, where Sibir hosts Ak Bars trying to prolong its positive streak – the Andrei Martemyanov’s men won their previous couple of matches and will likely try to avoid a break tonight. On the other hand, Ak Bars’ performances have been up and down lately, with a win over SKA and a defeat to Avangard on Saturday – Oleg Znarok knows how to win as his resume speaks for itself, but he still needs to solve a few problems even if the situation is now better for the Tatarstan side.
In Astana, both teams will try to revert their recent trend – Barys collected several losses recently, and they slipped away from top-eight in the East. Ufa is still the Conference’s fourth seed, but they used to lead the Eastern standings and are now on a four-loss streak that isn’t making bench boss Viktor Kozlov any happy.
Traktor and Amur have a busy history of meetings in the recent weeks, with Traktor getting the upper hand on Wednesday with a 3:2 SO win in Khabarovsk. With the current situation in the standings, this game will be key for both sides as they are trying to get in the top-eight. For now, Chelyabinsk has a one-point advantage, but also three more games played and a win in such a context is always important.
A showdown between Neftekhimik and Admiral closes an eventful KHL Monday. The Vladivostok franchise is this season’s sensation so far as they are currently the third seed in the East – it will be interesting to check how they can progress.
15:30: Sibir (19-12-3, 5th E) vs Ak Bars (13-12-6, 7th E)
About the game
Sibir starts a two-game home series on a two-match winning streak.
Ak Bars is in the middle of a three-game road trip and lost to Avangard on Saturday (2:1 OT).
Sibir’s forward Taylor Beck is on a five-game scoring streak, with 5 (1+4) points over that span.
Sibir’s forward Alexander Sharov is also on a five-game scoring streak, with 5 (3+2) points.
Injury list
Ak Bars: Dinar Khafizullin.
Milestone alert
Sibir’s forward Valentin Pyanov lines up for his 400th KHL game.
Sibir’s forward Anton Shenfeld and Ak Bars’ forward Stanislav Galiyev may record their 200th KHL point (both are currently at 199).
Ak Bars’ forward Alexander Radulov may become the third player in history to reach 400 KHL assists after Vadim Shipachyov and Sergei Mozyakin (currently at 399).
16:30: Barys (13-17-2, 10th E) vs Salavat Yulaev (17-7-7, 4th E)
About the game
Barys is at its second of a four-game home series and lost its previous couple of matches.
Salavat Yulaev starts a two-match road trip on a four-game losing streak.
The teams have already met twice this season, with a win each (2:0, 1:5).
Injury list
Salavat Yulaev: Josh Ho-Sang, Trevor Murphy.
17:00: Traktor (13-16-4, 8th E) vs Amur (12-13-5, 9th E)
About the game
Traktor is at its second of a five-game home series and lost to Metallurg on Saturday (1:2 OT)
Amur is in the middle of a three-game road trip and defeated Barys also on Saturday (3:1).
Traktor has already recorded two wins over Amur (1:0, 3:2 SO), while the Tigers achieved one victory so far (2:0).
Amur’s forward Jan Drozg is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (2+2) points over that span.
Injury list
Traktor: Anton Burdasov, Ilya Karpukhin.
Amur: Andrei Alexeyev, Andrew Calof, Denis Vikharev.
19:00: Neftekhimik (13-17-1, 11th E) vs Admiral (19-10-4, 4th E)
About the game
Neftekhimik ends a two-game home series and won its previous couple of matches.
Admiral ends a four-game road trip and is on a four-match winning streak.
Neftekhimik’s forward Vyacheslav Leshchenko is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (1+3) points over that span.
Neftekhimik’s forward Pavel Poryadin is also on a three-game scoring streak, with 5 (3+2) points.
Neftekhimik’s forward Ansel Galimov is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (1+2) points.
Admiral’s goalie Alexander Lazushin is on a 60:00 shutout streak.
Injury list
Neftekhimik: Emil Garipov, Mikhail Nazarov, Alexander Sudnitsin.
Admiral: Evgeny Grachyov, Yury Pautov, Yegor Rykov
