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SKA travels to Minsk gearing up for the postseason!
Having lost any playoff hope, Neftekhimik returns at home for a game against Lokomotiv. The Railwaymen will be trying to return to the top of the Western Conference, but they slipped down to third place and catching up won’t be easy.
Then, HC Sochi hosts Kunlun Red Star with the Dragons hunting the sixth straight victory over the Black Sea franchise. In the latest meeting, Kunlun Red Star shut out Sochi as the Dragons dominated the regular-season series between the two teams, with the last win coming only on Tuesday.
In the last game of a light KHL Friday, SKA travels to Minsk as the teams face off for the fourth time this season. For now, the St. Petersburg franchise took home two encounters, with Dinamo Minsk claiming a single victory. As SKA tops the Western Conference with the Bisons being on the eighth spot, this may well be a first-round meeting in the upcoming Gagarin Cup playoffs. The two sides have battled out in the most recent three seasons, with SKA claiming victory all three times. Will the trend change this season, especially considering that the Bisons are up 2-1 in the season series? Let’s start from today’s game on a packed Minsk Arena.
17:00: Neftekhimik (26-26-14, 9th E) vs Lokomotiv (43-18-5, 3rd W)
About the game
Neftekhimik plays the lone home game of the series and lost its previous four matches.
Lokomotiv, who has already defeated Neftekhimik this season, is in the middle of a three-game road trip and won its previous three matches.
Lokomotiv’s forward Maxim Beryozkin is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (1+3) points over that span.
Injury list
Neftekhimik: Bulat Shafigullin, Nail Yakupov.
Milestone alert
Neftekhimik’s forward Dmitry Sokolov lines up for his 100th KHL game.
17:00: HC Sochi (22-37-7, 10th W) vs Kunlun Red Star (23-36-6, 9th W)
About the game
HC Sochi starts a two-game home series on a two-match losing streak.
Kunlun Red Star plays the lone home game of the series following a victory over the Black Sea franchise on Tuesday (4:0)
The Dragons have defeated HC Sochi five times this season (0:3, 4:5 ОТ, 3:4 ОТ, 2:4, 0:4) and its goalie Matt Jurusik is on a 100:01 shutout streak.
Injury list
HC Sochi: Daniil Avershin, Vasily Machulin, Yegor Spiridonov
Kunlun Red Star: Kyle Wood.
19:30: Dinamo Minsk (31-30-5, 8th W) vs SKA (45-18-3, 1st W)
About the game
Dinamo Minsk ends a two-game home series on a two-match winning streak.
SKA plays the lone road game of the series following a loss to Severstal on Tuesday (0:3).
The season series between the two teams is 2-1 (4:2, 2:3, 2:1 ОТ).
SKA’s goalie Nikita Serebryakov is on an 87:27 shutout streak.
Injury list
Dinamo Minsk: Dmitry Deryabin, Ivan Sekerin, Nikita Smirnov, Alexander Suvorov.
SKA: Vladimir Alistrov, Alex Galchenyuk, Stanislav Zinchenko.
Milestone alert
SKA’s defenseman Alexander Nikishin may reach 100 KHL assists (currently at 99).
