SKA - Jokerit. Introducing the opponents

CURRENT STANDINGS

6. SKA, 53 matches, 28 regulation victories, 2 overtime victories, 2 penalty shootout victories, 13 regulation defeats, 4 overtime defeats, 4 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 158-113, 72 points

13. Jokerit, 51 matches, 23 regulation victories, 3 overtime victories, 2 penalty shootout victories, 18 regulation defeats, 4 overtime defeats, 1 penalty shootout defeat, goal difference 144-127, 61 points

FORM

Unlike SKA, who have currently sitting in second position of the Western Conference, Jokerit are yet to book their berth in the 2020/2021 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs. Nevertheless, although they do only have 61 points on the board and are languishing in fifth spot of the conference, the Finns do have three games in hand over Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in fourth. The gap between Jokerit and ninth-placed Spartak Moscow stands at a healthy seven points.

Jokerit’s inconsistency has been costing them dearly throughout the campaign. In their most recent three matches, Jokerit suffered emphatic defeats by a score of 1:5 to Metallurg Magnitogorsk at home and Dynamo in Moscow, before they only just managed to sneak past Kunlun Red Star Beijing 2:1 on the road in Mytishchi on Friday. They had beaten HC Sochi 3:2 and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 4:1 at the Hartwall Arena before losing to Magnitogorsk.

Unfortunately for head coach Lauri Marjamaki, he is unable to call upon the services of first-choice goalkeeper Anders Lindback (91.7%, 2.49, 1 shutout) and key forwards Jesse Joensuu (11+7) and Peter Regin (5+6) due to injury. At the moment, American forward Brian O’Neill (10+35) is Jokerit’s top scorer with an impressive 45 points to his name, while fellow forwards Jordan Schroeder (14+14), Henrik Haapala (8+17), Niklas Jensen (14+9), Veli-Matti Savinainen (13+9) and John Norman (5+14) are also enjoying productive seasons. Alex Grant is their leading defenseman in terms of scoring with 18 (5+13) points.

A narrow 0:2 setback to Dynamo Moscow at the VTB Arena on February 1 is SKA’s only defeat in the last six games, with our players having overcome the challenge of Avtomobilist in Yekaterinburg (3:1), Vityaz in Podolsk (3:1), Severstal Cherepovets at home (4:1), Spartak in Moscow (5:0) and Lokomotiv in Saint Petersburg (3:2 OT). SKA trail conference leaders CSKA Moscow by nine points after 53 matches each.

This will be the fourth meeting between these two clubs in the regular season. On November 10, SKA calmly defeated an under-strength Jokerit 4:1 in Finland, but the opponents subsequently gained revenge by claiming a 2:1 win in a penalty shootout in Russia on November 30 and a victory by the same score at home on December 30.

POINTS LEADERS IN LAST FIVE MATCHES

SKA

Anton Burdasov: 6 (3+3) points

Ivan Morozov: 4 (2+2) points

Lukas Bengtsson 4 (1+3) points

JOKERIT

Antti Pihlstrom: 4 (3+1) points

Henri Ikonen: 3 (2+1) points

Marko Anttila: 3 (1+2) points

The absence of Lindback and the patchy form of Janis Kalnins (27 matches, 91.7%, 2.33, 3 shutouts) has opened the door for KHL debutant Samuel Jukuri (5 matches, 91.1%, 2.31). In recent games, the 24-year-old Finn has caught the eye with strong performances in the Jokerit goal, and he notably stopped 14 of 15 shots against Kunlun Red Star on February 5 to steer his team to victory. 21-year-old Waltteri Ignatjew is also travelling with Jokerit during this road trip, sitting on the bench in the games against Dynamo and Kunlun.

Jukuri and Ignatjew have spent the majority of the season with Kiekko-Vantaa in the Finnish second division.

Magnus Hellberg (19 matches, 93.1%, 1.88, 2 shutouts) and Alexander Samonov (17 matches, 92.2%, 2.16, 1 shutout) have formed SKA’s goalkeeping pair for the last four matches in a row.

WHERE TO WATCH

Puck-drop is scheduled for 17:30 local time at the Ice Palace. KHL TV HD and Channel 78 (Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region only) will show the match on television in Russia, whereas you can purchase a live video on the KHL’s official website worldwide. Text updates will be provided on our Twitter account.