HC Sochi faces Ak Bars in Christmas’ lone game
Sochi isn’t having its best moment in history – the team is stuck on a thirteen-game losing streak, parted ways with a couple of its best players, and even getting Matvei Michkov on loan from SKA didn’t help in its latest game as they lost 0:3 to Kunlun Red Star on Friday.
However, they will have to win sooner or later, and maybe tonight they will be able to return to celebrate. Naturally, Ak Bars will be against all this – the Tatarstan franchise is not having its best season either, but they are getting some pace of late, and the return of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, for now only as an assistant, is starting being noticed on the team’s play and results.
17:00: HC Sochi (5-29-7, 11th W) vs Ak Bars (20-15-7, 7th E)
About the game
HC Sochi enters the second of a four-game home series on a 13-match losing streak.
Ak Bars, who has already defeated Sochi this season (6:2), ends a three-game road trip after recording a victory over Vityaz on Friday (4:3).
Injury list
HC Sochi: Mikhail Berdin, Fyodor Kroshchinsky, Joe Morrow.
Ak Bars: Mikhail Glukhov.
Milestone alert
Ak Bars’ forward Vadim Shipachyov may become the second player in history to reach 850 points after Sergei Mozyakin (currently at 846).
