Dinamo Minsk looking to stretch winning streak in the Far East
It will be a light KHL Saturday, with three scheduled games, with two of them in the Far East. There, Admiral hosts Dinamo Minsk, while Amur welcomes HC Sochi. Then, Ak Bars faces the Shanghai Dragons, who will be willing to bounce back after three straight losses.
The KHL match day starts in the Far East, with Admiral facing Dinamo Minsk and Amur hosting HC Sochi. In the last five games, the Sailors celebrated two wins over their regional rivals, both at home and in Khabarovsk, and also defeated Torpedo in Nizhny Novgorod in extra time (2:1 SO). This meant a return to the playoff places for the Vladivostok franchise, also helped by yesterday’s Barys loss in Magnitogorsk, even if the Eastern Conference’s standings are very tight. The Belarusians are also in excellent shape, with six wins in their last seven games – it will be tough for Admiral to keep their current form. The Bison are now tied with Lokomotiv at 43 points in the Western Conference’s table.
10:00: Admiral (11-11-6, 8th E) vs Dinamo Minsk (20-7-3, 3rd E)
About the game
Admiral enters the second game of a five-match home series following a win over Amur on Wednesday (4:1).
Dinamo Minsk enters the second game of a five-match road trip on a three-game winning streak.
Admiral’s defenseman Alexander Shepelev had an assist in each of his previous three matches.
Dinamo Minsk’s forward Sam Anas is on a seven-game scoring streak, with 10 (5+5) points over that stretch.
Dinamo Minsk’s forward Vitaly Pinchuk is also on a seven-game scoring streak, but with 9 (5+4) points.
Dinamo Minsk’s forward Vadim Shipachyov is on a four-game scoring streak, with 4 (2+2) points.
Dinamo Minsk’s forward Alex Limoges is also on a four-game scoring streak, with 5 (2+3) points.
Injury list
Admiral: Alexander Daryin, Ruslan Pedan, Nikita Soshnikov.
Milestone alert
Admiral’s goalie Adam Huska may line up for his 100th league appearance.
Dinamo Minsk’s goalie Vasily Demchenko may record his 30th KHL shutout.
In the other Far East game the Tigers will try to return to win and cut the gap from Traktor in the standings after losing to Dynamo Moscow (2:4) before the derby loss to Admiral. The Tigers only have two wins in the last five matches, and returning to win will be a good morale boost for the franchise. HC Sochi will also be hunting a win after three consecutive losses that got the Black Sea franchise in an even worse position in the standings, being now at the foot of the Western Conference with a growing gap to the playoff places. In two days, the Far East franchises will swap opponents.
10:00: Amur (12-14-4, 7th E) vs HC Sochi (7-17-5, 11th W)
About the game
Amur starts a four-game home series following two straight defeats.
HC Sochi enters the second game of a four-match road trip on a three-game losing streak.
Injury list
Amur: Roman Abrosimov.
HC Sochi: Rafael Bikmullin, Noel Hoefenmayer, Ilya Sushko, Denis Vengryzhanovsky.
Milestone alert
HC Sochi’s goalie Pavel Khomchenko may record his 10th career shutout.
In the last game of the match day, Ak Bars hosts the Shanghai Dragons in their second clash this season, with the Kazan side claiming an extra time win exactly one week ago, in St. Petersburg. After that game, Ak Bars suffered a loss to Spartak (0:1) and claimed a nice home win against SKA (5:2), with three points from last year’s top sniper Artyom Galimov. After that win, Ak Bars climbed up to second place in the East surpassing Avangard, but the Hawks have two games in hand. The Dragons lost another two games, including a brutal 0:9 from Traktor and a 5:7 loss to Neftekhimik. After this skid, the Chinese Franchise is in seventh place in the West, just one point above eighth-placed SKA. Today, the Dragons will try to return to winning games.
17:00: Ak Bars (20-10-2, 2nd E) vs Shanghai Dragons (13-10-7, 7th W)
About the game
Ak Bars, who defeated the Shanghai Dragons earlier in the season (3:2 SO), is in the middle of a three-game home series and defeated SKA on Friday (5:2).
The Shanghai Dragons end a three-game road trip on a three-match losing streak.
Injury list
Ak Bars: Albert Yarullin.
Shanghai Dragons: Jake Bischoff, Parker Foo, Jeremy Groleau.
Milestone alert
Ak Bars’ defenseman Stepan Falkovsky may score his 100th KHL point (currently at 99).
Ak Bars’ forward Alexander Chmelevsky may tally his 100th goal in the KHL (currently at 99).
