Lada - SKA. Match day

Following the match against Ak Bars in Tatarstan, SKA have arrived in Tolyatti to take on HC Lada Togliatti.

This will be the second meeting between these two teams this season, as a month ago Ilya Kovalchuk and Anton Burdasov goals helped SKA defeat Lada 2:1 in Sergei Zubov's first match after replacing Andrei Nazarov as head coach. Lada have come on in a big way since then however, and have increased their win total up to 12. Head coach Artis Abols has been beginning to draw the best out of his players, and goaltender Edgars Masalskis has been their main star with a 93.6% saves percentage. Nevertheless after some promising performances Lada have dropped four defeats in a row against Traktor (2:3 SO), Salavat Yulaev (1:5), Metallurg Magnitogorsk (2:3 SO) and Spartak (1:2). The Tolyatti outfit don't score too many goals either, and forward Anton Shenfeld's eight markers is the team's best showing. Overall, Lada lie in 13th place of the Eastern Conference with 40 points.

Having lost to Ak Bars SKA have slipped out of the Western Conference playoffs, however do have games in hand over nearest challengers HC Slovan Bratislava and HC Sochi. In that match in Kazan Andrei Zubarev took only his second SKA assist, with Alexei Ponikarovsky scoring in his second match in a row. Fellow forward Vadim Shipachyov continues to be the team's top scorer with 26 points (6+20).

The Lada - SKA match will begin at 18.00 Moscow time inside the Lada Arena, Tolyatti. Life78 and KHL TV HD will both broadcast the game live, and you can keep up to date with events by following either our match centre, or our official Twitter account.