Kunlun Red Star - SKA. Introducing the opponents

CURRENT STANDINGS

22. Kunlun Red Star, 57 matches, 11 regulation victories, 1 overtime victory, 1 penalty shootout victory, 36 regulation defeats, 6 overtime defeats, 2 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 135-201, 34 points

8. SKA, 57 matches, 30 regulation victories, 2 overtime victories, 2 penalty shootout victories, 15 regulation defeats, 4 overtime defeats, 4 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 166-121, 76 points

FORM

Kunlun Red Star Beijing have long been out of contention for a berth in the 2020/2021 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs. Having struggled throughout the entire regular season, the Chinese outfit find themselves languishing in last position of the Eastern Conference, only managing to win 13 of their 57 games. The well-known Alexei Kovalyov is currently their head coach.

Nevertheless, despite their inability to gain any real momentum, Kunlun have claimed a number of unlikely victories during the campaign. To the surprise of many, the Beijing club have managed to defeat the likes of Traktor Chelyabinsk (home, 4:3), Avangard Omsk (away, 4:3 SO) and Jokerit (away, 5:4 SO), not to mention that they shocked SKA in Saint Petersburg on October by a score of 2:1. Kirill Marchenko scored SKA’s only goal in that particular game.

In their past five matches, Kunlun have picked up two wins for their troubles, beating Jokerit 5:4 in a penalty shootout in Finland and HC Sochi 4:2 at home while losing to Vityaz Podolsk (home, 4:5), Severstal Cherepovets (away, 1:3) and Salavat Yulaev (away, 4:5). Incidentally, when playing Salavat in Ufa on Saturday, Kunlun incredibly came back to 4:4 from 0:4 down before eventually conceding a late winner. It must be noted that Kunlun, who like to play an energetic, aggressive brand of ice hockey with plenty of North Americans in their squad, have lost a lot of their matches by just one or two goals.

Kunlun are playing their home games at the Arena Mytishchi in Moscow Region this season as a consequence of coronavirus restrictions.

Forwards Ethan Werek (15+16), Hunter Shinkaruk (12+17) and Ivan Nikolishin (8+13) are three of Kunlun’s main attacking threats, while defenseman Ryan Sproul (9+16) has been in productive form at the blue line.

At the weekend, SKA produced a strong performance against Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl, but one shorthanded goal from Joonas Kemppainen wasn’t enough as the opponents scored a last-gasp marker to emerge victorious 2:1 in a drama-filled battle. SKA are guaranteed to finish in second spot of the Western Conference, with our team having already won the Bobrov Division. The leading teams of all four divisions are awarded the first two places of the two conferences.

POINTS LEADERS IN LAST FIVE MATCHES

KUNLUN RED STAR

Ryan Sproul: 5 (2+3) points

Vojtech Mozik: 4 (2+2) points

Ethan Werek: 4 (1+3) points

SKA

Malte Stromwall: 4 (4+0) points

Dinar Khafizullin: 4 (1+3) points

Joonas Kemppainen: 3 (2+1) points

In goal, Jeremy Smith (16 matches, 90.6%, 3.41) and Dmitry Shikin (34 matches, 90.7%, 3.36, 1 shutout, 1 assist) have been taking it in turns, with the pair often being forced into making plenty of saves with Kunlun not having the tightest of defences.

Magnus Hellberg (20 matches, 93.4%, 1.83, 2 shutouts) and Alexander Samonov (20 matches, 92.3%, 2.13, 1 shutout) have been alternating almost every two matches for SKA since early January.

WHERE TO WATCH

Puck-drop in Mytishchi is scheduled for 17:00 local time. KHL TV, KHL TV HD and Channel 78 (Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region only) will provide a live television broadcast in Russia, whereas you can purchase a live video on the KHL’s official website worldwide. Text updates can be found on our Twitter account.