SKA - Vityaz. Introducing the opponents

CURRENT STANDINGS

6. SKA, 18 matches, 10 victories, 5 defeats, 2 penalty shootout defeats, 1 overtime defeat, goal difference 53-47, 23 points

15. Vityaz, 15 matches, 4 regulation victories, 2 penalty shootout victories, 1 overtime victory, 7 regulation defeats, 1 penalty shootout defeat, goal difference 47-43, 15 defeats

FORM

Currently sitting in ninth place of the 2020/2021 KHL Western Conference, Vityaz have endured a somewhat mixed season so far, failing to string more than two wins in a row together. Today, the Moscow Region club are coming off the back of a five-game home series, a streak of matches which only produced two victories against Dinamo Riga (6:1) and Amur Khabarovsk (6:3) while losing to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (0:5), Ak Bars Kazan (2:3 SO) and Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg (3:4). Vityaz do have the likes of former SKA figures Evgeny Artyukhin (2+0) and Alexander Dergachyov (3+3) on their books.

On Friday, SKA suffered a disappointing 1:3 loss to CSKA in the Russian capital, meaning that our team are now six points behind the Moscovites in second position of the conference. Nevertheless, in the first match of that particular road trip, SKA had gained confidence by defeating HC Sochi 4:1. Nearly all first-team players have returned to the squad following a period of illness.

POINTS LEADERS IN LAST FIVE MATCHES

SKA

Anton Burdasov: 4 (1+3) points

Kirill Marchenko: 3 (2+1) points

Lukas Bengtsson: 3 (1+2) points

VITYAZ

Mattias Tedenby: 6 (1+5) points

Justin Danforth :5 (3+2) points

Kaspras Daugavins: 5 (2+3) points

Ilya Ezhov, a former SKA player, has competed in 10 matches to date for Vityaz in the current KHL campaign, registering a 91.5% save percentage, a goals against average of 2.66, one shutout and three regulation victories. Pyotr Kochetkov (90.9%, 2.69) and Anton Todykov (91.9%, 3.07) are the back-up goaltenders for the Podolsk-based organisation.

As for SKA, Magnus Hellberg has participated in the last two consecutive games, with the 29-year-old Swede not boasting a save percentage of 92.5%, a goals against average of 2.53 and three wins. Mikhail Berdin (90.1%, 2.84) was on the bench for both of those matches.

WHERE TO WATCH

Puck drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time at the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace. KHL TV HD and Channel 78 will provide a television broadcast in Russia, whereas you can purchase a live video on the KHL's official website worldwide. You can also follow text updates on our Twitter account.