Neftekhimik - SKA. Introducing the opponents

Today, at 19:00 local time, SKA will compete against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk on the road in Tatarstan in the 2021/2022 KHL regular season.

SKA are coming off the back of six successive defeats against Metallurg Magnitogorsk (home, 2:3 SO), Spartak Moscow (home, 1:2 OT), CSKA Moscow - twice - (away, 0:4, 1:3), Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (home, 1:3) and Sibir Novosibirsk (home, 1:2). As a result of those results, SKA have indeed fallen to fifth spot of the Western Conference with 39 points, trailing leaders Jokerit Helsinki by five points.

Nevertheless, Sunday's battle against CSKA in Moscow will be remembered for the flawless debut of 21-year-old goaltender Dmitry Nikolaev, who stopped all 15 shots he faced after replacing Lars Johansson midway through the first period.

For their part, Neftekhimik have won their past three consecutive matches against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (away, 4:3), Traktor Chelyabinsk (away, 1:0) and Lokomotiv (home, 1:0). Neftekhimik are now occupying seventh position of the Western Conference with 32 points on the board.

This will be the second game between these two teams this season. On October 3, our players earned a tough 2:0 victory in Saint Petersburg, with Kirill Marchenko and Danila Moiseev - with an empty-netter - securing the two points. Johansson stopped all 27 shots he faced.

KHL TV and Channel 78 (Leningrad Region and Saint Petersburg) will provide a television broadcast in Russia, whereas you can watch a live video worldwide on the KHL's official website. Text updates will be available on our Twitter account.