Spartak - SKA. Introducing the opponents

CURRENT STANDINGS

17. Spartak, 50 matches, 16 regulation victories, 6 overtime victories, 1 penalty shootout victory, 21 regulation defeats, 4 overtime defeats, 2 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 130-143, 52 points

5. SKA, 50 matches, 27 regulation victories, 1 overtime victory, 2 penalty shootout victories, 4 overtime defeats, 4 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 150-109, 68 points

FORM

Spartak are in the midst of a gritty battle to reach the 2020/2021 KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs. At the moment, the capital outfit find themselves languishing in ninth position of the Western Conference, but they are level on points (52) with eighth-placed Vityaz Podolsk. The top eight teams will qualify for the post-season.

However, Spartak aren’t in the greatest of form at the moment, with Oleg Znarok’s troops having lost four out of their last five matches to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (home, 0:1), Jokerit Helsinki (home, 1:3), CSKA Moscow (away, 1:2) and Metallurg Magnitogorsk (home, 1:3). Their sole victory during that period was a 3:2 overtime triumph over Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in Moscow.

Defenseman Andrei Zubarev (2+4) and forwards Jori Lehtera (7+29) and Sergei Shirokov (18+15) previously represented the senior SKA team. Moreover, Lehtera and Shirokov are Spartak’s two leading scorers, with the pair often impressing with their productive play. Emil Djuse (6+19) and Yakov Rylov (2+10) are the only two Spartak defensemen to tally a minimum of 10 points.

SKA have made a major improvement since a shaky start to 2021. Displaying effective, high-class ice hockey, our players have strung three consecutive victories together, beating Avtomobilist (3:1) and Vityaz (3:1) on the road before seeing off the challenge of Severstal Cherepovets (4:1) in Saint Petersburg. Our team sit in second spot of the conference with 68 points on the board, nine less than leaders CSKA.

This will be the third meeting between these two teams this season. On September 17, two goals from Vladimir Tkachyov secured a tense 2:0 triumph for SKA at the CSKA Arena, but Spartak subsequently gained revenge with a 4:1 win at the Ice Palace on October 22. Andrei Kuzmenko scored SKA’s only marker in that particular match.

POINTS LEADERS IN LAST FIVE MATCHES

SPARTAK

Robin Hanzl: 2 (0+2) points

Ilya Talaluev: 2 (1+1) points

Artyom Fyodorov: 2 (1+1) points

SKA

Anton Burdasov: 6 (3+3) points

Ivan Morozov: 4 (2+2) points

Andrei Kuzmenko: 4 (1+3) points

Slovakian veteran Julius Hudacek has largely been a reliable figure in net for Spartak. So far, the experienced 32-year-old has made 38 appearances in the current campaign, registering a 91.0% save percentage, a goals against average of 2.39, two shutouts and even two assists. Nikita Bespalov (10 matches, 88.4%, 3.60), Alexander Trushkov (8 matches, 90.1%, 3.23) and Pavel Khomchenko (2 matches, 78.6%, 6.97) have also featured in the Spartak net.

Alexander Samonov (16 matches, 91.5%, 2.32) stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced on Wednesday as SKA defeated Severstal at home. Magnus Hellberg (17 matches, 92.8%, 1.94, 2 shutouts) and Yaroslav Askarov (9 matches, 95.1%, 1.21, 1 shutout) are also available for selection.

WHERE TO WATCH

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