CSKA faces Sochi trying to return to victory!

The Muscovites lost three games in a row and will try to reverse the trend in today’s lone game.

CSKA against Sochi has traditionally been a lopsided clash, with the Muscovites claiming 34 games out of 35, with the lone Sochi victory dating back to 2016—on Jan. 4, with Andre Pettersson netting the game winner for the Black Sea franchise with fewer than four minutes to the final hooter. Since then, CSKA had 25 straight wins over Sochi. Sergei Zubov’s men will try to reverse the trend today as they travel to Moscow again, but, of course, it won’t be easy. However, Sochi celebrated a win in its most recent game – a 4:0, shutout win over Kunlun Red Star, with Sergei Ivanov stopping 24 shots as Yegor Zavragin was recalled by SKA from his loan spell on the Black Sea shore. In the game, moreover, Dmytro Timashov also opened his goal scoring account in the KHL.

On the other end of the ice, CSKA suffered from three straight defeats, all in extra time, to Avtomobilist (3:4 SO), Dinamo Minsk (5:4 OT), and SKA (5:4 OT), respectively. After these defeats, CSKA slipped down to sixth place in the Western Conference’s standings, and today the two-time KHL champion will definitely want to bounce back and start climbing up the table again, trying to get full advantage from its return to home ice.

17:00: CSKA (7-4-6, 6^th W) vs HC Sochi (6-9-1, 11^th W)

About the game

CSKA starts a two-game home series on a three-game losing streak.

HC Sochi enters the second game of a four-match road trip following a win over Kunlun Red Star on Friday (4:0).

HC Sochi’s goalie Sergei Ivanov is on an 89:12 shutout streak.

HC Sochi’s forward Artur Tyanulin is on an eight-game scoring streak, with 12 (4+8) points over that span.

Milestone alert

HC Sochi’s forward Nikolai Chebykin lines up for his 200^th KHL game, while forward Ilya Fedotov reaches 100.