SKA - Spartak. Introducing the opponents

CURRENT STANDINGS

4. SKA: 39 matches, 19 regulation victories, 2 overtime victories, 3 penalty shootout victories, 9 regulation defeats, 2 overtime defeats, 4 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 119-82, 54 points

13. Spartak: 40 matches, 16 regulation victories, 5 overtime victories, 16 regulation defeats, 1 overtime defeat, 2 penalty shootout defeats, goal difference 100-99, 45 points

FORM

This will be the third meeting between these two teams in the 2021/2022 KHL regular season. In September, SKA defeated Spartak 2:0 in Moscow with second-period goals from Anton Burdasov and Kirill Marchenko, before the capital outfit subsequently gained revenge in Saint Petersburg in November with a 2:1 overtime victory. Mikhail Vorobyov scored our only marker during the first period of that particular game.

Solid Swede Lars Johansson was our goalkeeper in both of those matches.

Spartak were in excellent form before the international break, claiming three impressive consecutive wins against Metallurg Magnitogorsk (away, 3:2), Jokerit Helsinki (home, 2:0) and Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (home, 5:2). Boris Mironov’s troops are consequently firmly in the Gagarin Cup playoff race, currently occupying seventh place of the Western Conference with 45 points. However, with Dinamo Minsk only two points behind in ninth spot, the Muscovites certainly can’t afford to relax.

Former SKA forwards Jori Lehtera (9+22), Alexander Khokhlachyov (12+16) and Sergei Shirokov (10+15) are Spartak’s leading scorers, while fellow forwards Emil Pettersson (13+9) and Jake Virtanen (9+7) are also players to keep a close eye on. Swedish defenseman Tim Heed is a real threat at the blue line having picked up 22 (3+19) points in 37 appearances.

Dangerous forwards Andrei Loktionov (8+8) and Dmitry Kugryshev (3+11) have not made the trip to Saint Petersburg as a consequence of injury problems. We can expect Spartak to compete in a cautious, defensive manner, mainly relying on counter-attacks to create scoring opportunities.

As it stands, SKA are locked in a three-way leadership of the conference on 54 points with Dynamo Moscow and Jokerit. In-form forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who missed the second stage of the 2021/2022 Euro Hockey Tour with the senior Russian national team because of injury, is our top scorer with 42 (16+26) points in 36 games. SKA have won five of their last six league matches.

GOALKEEPING STATISTICS

SKA

Lars Johansson: 29 matches, 16 wins, 10 defeats, 604 saves made, 43 goals conceded, save percentage 93.4%, goals against average 1.60, 8 shutouts

Alexander Samonov: 7 matches, 3 wins, 3 defeats, 105 saves made, 18 goals conceded, save percentage 85.4%, goals against average 3.87

Yaroslav Askarov: 5 matches, 2 wins, 2 defeats, 75 saves made, 8 goals conceded, save percentage 90.4%, goals against average 2.01

Dmitry Nikolaev: 4 matches, 3 wins, 82 saves made, 6 goals conceded, save percentage 93.2%, goals against average 1.54

SPARTAK

Alexei Krasikov: 28 matches, 15 wins, 13 defeats, 587 saves made, 52 goals conceded, save percentage 91.9%, goals against average 2.11, 1 shutout

Oscar Dansk: 14 matches, 4 wins, 6 defeats, 345 saves made, 38 goals conceded, save percentage 90.1%, goals against average 2.90

Andrei Skovronsky: 4 matches, 2 wins, 83 saves made, 3 goals conceded, save percentage 96.5%, goals against average 1.18, 1 shutout

WHERE TO WATCH

Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time at the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace. Match TV and Channel 78 (Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region only) will provide a television broadcast in Russia, whereas you can watch a live video on the KHL’s official website worldwide. Text updates will be available on our Twitter account.