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Second Far East Derby of the season in a packed KHL November start
Seven games feature on Sunday’s KHL schedule, the first day of a new month, headlined by Torpedo against Spartak, one point apart, in a First Teams’ Cup game. All four Eastern teams level on 21 points play: Admiral hosts Amur in the second Far East Derby of the season, the Shanghai Dragons welcome Salavat Yulaev, and HC Sochi entertains Avangard. CSKA can go top of the West at Traktor. Also on the schedule, Sibir faces Neftekhimik, and Dinamo Minsk meets Dynamo Moscow for seventh place.
The matchday starts in Vladivostok, where Admiral and Amur meet a week after their first game of the season, now level on 21 points. On Oct. 25 in Khabarovsk, the Tigers scored three times in the opening period, two of them by Vitaly Abramov, and won 3–0. Since then, Admiral has won twice on the road, 3–1 at Lada and 4–3 at Neftekhimik on Thursday. Those results made it four wins in five games for Admiral, eighth in the East, two places below its Far Eastern rivals. Amur comes in from two defeats on the road, 1–2 at Dynamo Moscow and 1–3 at Ak Bars, with just one goal in each. Its 37 goals are the fewest in the Eastern Conference, and its games have produced an average of 3.5 goals, the lowest figure in the league.
Next up is a showdown between Sibir and Neftekhimik. The Novosibirsk side has yet to beat Neftekhimik this season in two meetings: 0–3 at home on Sept. 16 and 2–3 in Nizhnekamsk on Oct. 4. The Wolves are level with Barys on 25 points, second and third in the East, and their 60 goals rank third in the conference. Their two latest games, both in Nizhnekamsk, ended in one-goal defeats, but they won each of their last two road games, 1–0 at Lokomotiv and 3–2 at Avangard. The Novosibirsk side ended a three-game losing streak by beating Metallurg, the Eastern Conference leader, 5–2 at home on Thursday. That result lifted Sibir off the bottom of the Eastern table and into 10th place with 19 points. With six points between the teams, a regulation win for Sibir would cut the gap to four, while one for Neftekhimik would stretch it to eight.
Avangard’s perfect record beyond regulation ended in Togliatti on Friday. After winning all five of its previous games that needed extra time, the Hawks lost 2–3 to Lada on Nikita Setdikov’s goal 73 seconds into overtime, despite a power-play equalizer from Joshua Leivo in the second period. The Hawks are ninth in the East, level on 21 points with Amur, Salavat Yulaev, and Admiral. HC Sochi has fared better against Eastern opponents than within its own conference: four of its six wins have come against the East, two each over Ak Bars and Salavat Yulaev, while it has won only twice in 13 Western Conference games. The hosts are 10th in the West with 12 points and lost 2–6 at Lokomotiv on Thursday, ending their first three-game winning streak of the season. Avangard won the first meeting 4–1 in Omsk on Sept. 10.
In Chelyabinsk, CSKA has the chance to move clear at the top of the Western Conference. The Muscovites are level with Lokomotiv on 30 points, and with the Railwaymen not playing today, any win would leave CSKA alone in first place. They have scored 63 goals, the most in the West, and only Lokomotiv has conceded fewer in the conference. The opponent is a familiar one: on Wednesday in Moscow, Boris Katchouk gave Traktor a first-period lead with a man advantage before CSKA scored four times in the middle frame, each goal by a different player, on the way to a 5–1 win. CSKA has not played since, while Traktor lost again two days later, 2–3 in Minsk, where defenseman Grigory Dronov reached 200 KHL points with his goal. The Black-and-Whites are 11th in the East with 18 points, three behind sixth place, and all three of their wins against Western teams this season have come on the road.
In Nizhny Novgorod, Torpedo hosts Spartak. The two teams opened their seasons against each other on Sept. 5, when blue-chip prospect Sergei Skvortsov scored late in the first period for a 1–0 Torpedo win in Moscow. That was also the opening day of the First Teams’ Cup, and today’s return Cup game comes with the teams one point apart in the West: Spartak is third with 28 points, Torpedo fourth with 27. Both have 12 wins and five regulation defeats, and the gap comes from Spartak’s four losses beyond regulation to Torpedo’s three: the Red-and-Whites have yet to win a game that went past 60 minutes this season. Spartak bounced back from a shootout defeat in Cherepovets with a 5–1 win there on Friday. Torpedo rallied from 0–2 to earn a point at Avtomobilist on Thursday, losing in a shootout. A win today would lift Torpedo past Avtomobilist into second place in the Cup standings, behind CSKA.
The Shanghai Dragons have been a different team away from Saint Petersburg. On the road, they have won eight of their 11 games, but they have lost their last four at home, scoring exactly two goals in each, and their latest home win came on Sept. 30. On Friday, Barys came back from 0–2 to beat them 4–2, with Tyce Thompson scoring three times. The Chinese franchise is sixth in the Western Conference on 26 points from 19 games, and it is one of only two teams in the league to have scored in every game this season. Salavat Yulaev, the visitor for the first meeting between the teams this season, last played on Tuesday. The Ufa side lost its last two games at home by the same 1–2 score, the first in the Green Derby against Ak Bars, and sits seventh in the Eastern Conference on 21 points. Its latest road game ended in a 5–4 shootout win at Metallurg on Oct. 21.
Closing out the matchday is the third meeting of the season between Dinamo Minsk and Dynamo Moscow, the first in Minsk. Both earlier games went past regulation, and both went to the Muscovites. A shootout settled the first, 3–2 in Saint Petersburg on Sept. 12, while in the second, played in Moscow on Sept. 24, Maxim Letunov tied the game with 41 seconds left before Dynamo won 4–3 in OT. Each team won its last game with help from a shorthanded goal. Igor Martynov scored the winner while a man down in Dynamo’s 2–1 home win over Amur on Wednesday, and Daniil Sotishvili opened the scoring 26 seconds into the third period of the Belarusians’ 3–2 victory over Traktor on Friday. Dinamo Minsk holds seventh place in the West on 22 points, one ahead of Dynamo Moscow, which has played two more games, while SKA, ninth with 19, has four games in hand on the Blue-and-Whites. Dynamo Moscow needs a regulation win to move above Dinamo Minsk, while one for the hosts would open a three-point gap. French forward Stephane Da Costa, a veteran of more than 600 games and 500 points in the KHL, may play his first game for the Belarusians after Dinamo Minsk announced his signing on Friday.
10:00: Admiral (9-8-3, 8th E) vs Amur (10-9-1, 6th E)
About the game
Admiral starts a three-game home series following two consecutive wins.
Amur, who defeated Admiral earlier in the season (3–0), ends a three-game road trip on a two-match losing streak.
Admiral’s forward Yegor Chezganov had one assist in each of his previous four matches.
Amur’s goalie Alexander Trushkov is on a 76:23 shutout streak.
Amur’s forward Vitaly Abramov is on a four-game scoring streak, with 6 (3+3) points over that stretch.
Injury list
Admiral: Mario Grman, Fyodor Kroshchinsky, Artyom Pimenov.
Amur: Raul Akmaldinov, Danila Galenyuk, Alexander Dergachyov, Dmitry Kostenko, Andrei Krutov, Ivan Chekhovich.
13:30: Sibir (8-11-3, 10th E) vs Neftekhimik (11-7-3, 3rd E)
About the game
Sibir enters the second game of a three-match home series following a win over Metallurg on Thursday (5–2).
Neftekhimik, who defeated Sibir twice earlier in the season (3–0, 3–2), starts a three-game road trip on a two-match losing streak.
Injury list
Sibir: Mikhail Abramov, Daniil Valitov, Maxim Osipov.
Milestone alert
Sibir’s defenseman Mikhail Orlov lines up for his 500th league appearance.
Sibir’s defenseman Darren Dietz may net his 100th KHL goal (currently at 99).
14:00: HC Sochi (6-14-0, 10th W) vs Avangard (10-8-1, 9th E)
About the game
HC Sochi starts a six-game home series following a loss at Lokomotiv on Thursday (2–6).
Avangard, who defeated HC Sochi earlier in the season (4–1), ends a four-match road trip following a loss at Lada on Friday (2–3 OT).
HC Sochi’s forward Nikita Gusev had at least one assist in each of his previous seven games, totaling nine helpers.
HC Sochi’s forward Matvei Guskov is on a five-game scoring streak, with 7 (2+5) points over that stretch.
HC Sochi’s forward Denis Vengryzhanovsky is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (2+1) points.
HC Sochi’s forward Artur Gizdatullin scored a goal in each of his previous three games.
Avangard’s defenseman Damir Sharipzyanov is on a three-game scoring streak, with 3 (1+2) points over that span.
Injury list
HC Sochi: Pavel Akolzin, Pyotr Andreyanov, Artyom Guryev, Cameron Lee.
Avangard: Pavel Leuka, Nikolai Prokhorkin.
Suspensions
HC Sochi’s defenseman Viktor Baldayev serves the first of a two-game ban.
Milestone alert
Avangard’s head coach Guy Boucher may record his 100th KHL win.
14:00: Traktor (8-10-2, 11th E) vs CSKA (15-5-0, 2nd W)
About the game
Traktor starts a five-game home series on a two-match losing streak.
CSKA, who defeated Traktor earlier in the season (5–1), starts a three-match road trip on a two-game winning streak.
Injury list
Traktor: Vitaly Kravtsov, Alexander Rykov.
Milestone alert
Traktor’s forward Andrei Svetlakov may reach 300 KHL points (currently at 298).
CSKA’s forward Nikolai Kovalenko lines up for his 400th KHL game.
CSKA’s forward Pavel Karnaukhov may record his 100th KHL assist (currently at 99).
17:00: Torpedo (12-5-3, 4th W) vs Spartak (12-5-4, 3rd W) (First Teams’ Cup)
About the game
Torpedo, who defeated Spartak earlier in the season (1–0), starts a two-game home series following a loss at Avtomobilist on Thursday (2–3 SO).
Spartak ends a three-match road trip following a win at Severstal on Friday (5–1).
Torpedo’s forward Vladimir Tkachyov is on a three-game scoring streak, with 4 (1+3) points over that stretch.
Torpedo’s forward Yegor Vinogradov is also on a three-game scoring streak, with 5 (3+2) points.
Spartak’s forward Maxime Comtois had at least one assist in each of his previous three games, totaling four helpers.
Injury list
Torpedo: Mikhail Vorobyov.
Milestone alert
Spartak’s defenseman Veniamin Korolyov lines up for his 100th league appearance.
17:00: Shanghai Dragons (12-5-2, 6th W) vs Salavat Yulaev (10-10-1, 7th E)
About the game
The Shanghai Dragons enter the second game of a four-match home series following a loss to Barys on Friday (2–4).
Salavat Yulaev plays a single road game on a two-match losing streak.
Shanghai Dragons’ forward Riley Sutter had one assist in each of his previous six games.
Injury list
Shanghai Dragons: Nikolas Petan, Martin Frk.
Salavat Yulaev: Alexander Alexeyev, Nikita Bogdanov, Artyom Gorshkov, Dean Stewart, Nikita Shcherbakov.
17:10: Dinamo Minsk (8-7-6, 7th W) vs Dynamo Moscow (8-10-5, 8th W)
About the game
Dinamo Minsk ends a three-game home series following a win over Traktor on Friday (3–2).
Dynamo Moscow, who defeated Dinamo Minsk twice earlier in the season (3–2 SO, 4–3 OT), starts a six-match road trip following a win over Amur on Wednesday (2–1).
Injury list
Dinamo Minsk: Vasily Demchenko, Nicolas Meloche.
Dynamo Moscow: Nick Merkley, Yegor Rimashevsky.
Milestone alert
Dynamo Moscow’s forward Nikita Tertyshny lines up for his 300th league appearance, while defenseman Mario Patalakha reaches 100.
Dynamo Moscow’s goalie Maxim Motorygin may record his 10th career shutout.
