SKA faces Severstal in today’s lone game!

The two sides had quite opposite paths this season, with SKA starting winning games since the very beginning, and Severstal struggling to keep up with the expectations of a postseason qualification. Fast forward to December’s start and SKA leads the league with 29 wins and a ten-point gap over CSKA and Avtomobilist, while Severstal is three points shy of the playoffs line – also having lost its previous couple of matches to Sibir (2:3) and Avangard (1:2).

However, the two teams have already met this season, twice, with SKA getting away with two wins. On Sep 12, the Steelers went ahead less than thirty seconds going in the starting frame, but the St. Petersburg side had four unanswered goals to achieve victory. Six days later, the game was much closer. Severstal once again gained the early lead, but Nikita Kamalov tied things up in the third stanza, and a successful shootout attempt by Marat Khairullin meant another win for SKA. Curiously enough, in both games the Severstal’s crease was defended by Vladislav Podyapolsky, who was moved to SKA on Nov 14 for goalie Alexander Samonov and defenseman Daniil Pylenkov.

19:30: SKA (29-5-3, 1^st W) vs Severstal (13-15-8, 9^th W) 

About the game

SKA ends a two-game home series and is on a two-match winning streak.

Severstal starts a four-game and lost its previous couple of matches.

SKA has already defeated Severstal twice this season (4:1, 2:1 SO), and its forward Marat Khusnutdinov is on a three-game scoring streak, with 8 (4+4) points over that span.

Injury list

SKA: Stepan Falkovsky, Emil Galimov, Evgeny Ketov, Danila Moiseyev, Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi.

Severstal: Maxim Kolmykov, Dmitry Moiseyev, Dmitry Shugayev.