Ak Bars and Barys collide again tonight!
On Wednesday, another edition of the “Cat derby” will take place, with Ak Bars hitting the ice against Barys. Once upon a time, these teams met regularly in the playoffs. For example, in 2009, 2010 and 2011, three straight times did the cats struggle in the first round. Back then, Ak Bars, with Zinetula Bilyaletdinov at the helm, were winning cups. Much time has passed since then, but some things remain the same. For example, Iron Bill is once again leading Ak Bars to victories (so far in the regular season), but Barys shouldn’t be distracted by flashbacks from earlier KHL seasons: the team has the task of qualifying to the 2023 Gagarin Cup playoffs, so Andrei Skabelka’s squad must fight hard to take points away from Kazan.
The KHL matchday starts early with two matches in the Far East, with Amur hosting Sibir again and Admiral welcoming Avangard for another rematch. Emotions will be running high as, especially in the Khabarovsk game, there’s a lot on stake with Neftekhimik, Barys, and Amur all running at 57 points and being just one spot for the eighth place in the standings.
In the West, Torpedo faces Salavat Yulaev. After recently defeating both SKA and CSKA, Torpedo is currently the second seed in the Western Conference – quite a feat for the Nizhny Novgorod franchise, whose best all-time result was a seventh overall place in 2011-2012 under the Finnish coach Kari Jalonen.
Then, SKA and CSKA both hit the ice with St. Petersburg facing Lokomotiv and CSKA welcoming Kunlun Red Star. SKA has recently celebrated reaching 200 goals scored again – yet they failed to score on the Railwaymen in their most recent meeting.
12:00: Amur (25-24-7, 8th E) vs Sibir (35-18-5, 1st E)
About the game
Amur enters the second game of a four-match road trip on a two-game losing streak.
Sibir ends a four-game road trip fresh off a win over Amur on Monday (2:1 OT).
Sibir has defeated Amur twice this season (4:2, 2:1 OT), and lost once (4:6).
Sibir’s forward Taylor Beck is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (3+1) points over that span.
Sibir’s defenseman Trevor Murphy had at least an assist in each of his previous five games, totaling six helpers.
Sibir’s forward Valentin Pyanov is on a five-game scoring streak, with 7 (2+5) points.
Injury list
Amur: Evgeny Kulik.
Sibir: Vyacheslav Litovchenko, Anton Nazarevich, Nikita Setdikov.
Milestone alert
Amur’s forward Igor Rudenkov lines up for his 300th KHL game.
12:30: Admiral (29-21-7, 7th E) vs Avangard (32-19-5, 5th E)
About the game
Admiral ends a five-game home series coming off a two-match winning streak.
Avangard enters the second game of a four-match road trip after a loss to Admiral on Monday (1:2 OT).
Admiral has defeated Avangard three times this season (4:3 SO, 1:0 OT, 2:1 OT).
Injury list
Admiral: Michal Kristof, Evgeny Lisovets.
Avangard: Stanislav Galimov, Nail Yakupov.
19:30: Ak Bars (32-16-9, 2nd E) vs Barys (25-27-7, 9th E)
About the game
Ak Bars ends a two-game home series coming off a two-match winning streak.
Barys starts a three-game road trip after a loss to Dynamo Moscow on Sunday (1:2 OT).
Barys has defeated Ak Bars twice this season (3:2, 3:2 SO), and lost once (1:2).
Ak Bars’ forward Stanislav Galiyev is on a three-game scoring streak, with 5 (4+1) points over that span.
Injury list
Ak Bars: Nikita Yevseyev.
Barys: Linden Vey.
Milestone alert
Ak Bars’ forward Kirill Semyonov may score his 100th KHL goal (currently at 99).
19:00: Torpedo (37-16-4, 2nd W) vs Salavat Yulaev (30-18-9, 6th E)
About the game
Torpedo, who has already defeated Salavat Yulaev this season (2:1 SO), starts a three-game home series and won its previous four matches.
Salavat Yulaev starts a two-game road trip coming off a three-match winning streak.
Torpedo’s forward Nikolai Kovalenko is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (1+2) points over that span.
Salavat Yulaev’s forward Alexander Kadeikin is also on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (2+2) points.
Injury list
Torpedo: Kenny Agostino, Alexander Daryin, Igor Larionov, Dennis Yan.
Salavat Yulaev: Josh Ho-Sang
Milestone alert
Salavat Yulaev’s goalie Ilya Ezhov may record his 30th KHL shutout.
19:30: SKA (43-10-5, 1st W) vs Lokomotiv (34-16-8, 4th W)
About the game
SKA is in the middle of a three-game home series and lost its previous couple of matches.
Lokomotiv starts a two-game road trip after losing to Avtomobilist on Sunday (0:1).
The Railwaymen have defeated SKA three times this season (3:1, 2:1 OT, 1:0) and lost twice (2:3, 3:4). Their goalie Daniil Isayev is on a 62:53 shutout streak.
Injury list
SKA: Evgeny Ketov, Danila Moiseyev, Nikolai Prokhorkin, Roman Rukavishnikov, Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi.
Lokomotiv: Yegor Averin, Yegor Korshkov, Mikhail Varnakov.
19:30: CSKA (35-15-6, 3rd W) vs Kunlun Red Star (20-33-5, 10th W)
About the game
CSKA is in the middle of a three-game home series and lost to Severstal on Sunday (1:4).
Kunlun Red Star ends a two-game road trip after a loss to Dinamo Minsk on Monday (2:3).
The Dragons have defeated CSKA twice this season (2:1 OT, 5:4 SO), and lost once (1:5).
Injury list
CSKA: Danil Yurtaikin.
Kunlun Red Star: Paris O’Brien, Jack Rodewald
