SKA - Barys. Match day

Having played four KHL away games, SKA have returned to Saint Petersburg for a fixture against HC Barys Astana.

Barys, a club based in the Kazakh capital of Astana, have had a rather odd season to date. After not making the Gagarin Cup playoffs last term. they are determined to make amends this year, but a terrible start to the campaign has left them playing catch-up. Nevertheless, Barys have improved of late, winning their past five matches in a row to occupy eighth position in the Eastern Conference. Goaltender Henrik Karlsson has been a large reason behind their up-turn in fortunes, with the Swede recording six shutouts so far. As usual, Barys rely on their North Americans such as Nigel Dawes and Brandon Bochenski to score their goals, and the former has 27 points to his name (16+11).

Our players have won an incredible fourteen games on the spin, most recently beating Dynamo Moscow (3:2), Vityaz Podolsk (4:0) and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (7:1). Ilya Kovalchuk in in superb form, now leading the SKA scoring charts on 39 points (19+20). Igor Shestyorkin currently has a 94.6 saves percentage to his name.

These two teams met in Astana earlier this year, with SKA taking a hard fought 5:3 victory.

The SKA - Barys match will begin at 19.30 local time inside the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace. Life78 and KHL TV HD will broadcast live, and you can follow events live on our official Twitter account.