SKA - Dynamo Moscow. Game Five

SKA, leading this KHL Gagarin Cup second round series 3:1, can see off the challenge of Dynamo Moscow with a win today in the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace.

Games between these two teams are dubbed the El Clasico of Russian ice hockey and the KHL in general, and it has been a thrilling series so far. After a 6:3 home win was cancelled out by a Dynamo 4:1 victory in the second our team burst into life in Moscow, taking two vital victories away 2:0 and 6:1 respectively. Those victories have indeed given SKA three match points in the series, with only one more victory needed to move on into the next round.

Dynamo have been struggling in the series, and haven't been helped by numerous injuries. In the previous fourth game in Moscow, defenceman Maxim Solovyov went off injured before goaltender Alexander Lazushin had to be replaced by Alexander Sharychenkov. That means that most probably Alexander Yeryomenko will take his place between the pipes today, while Alexander Lazushin has been ruled out of the series altogether.

Only one SKA forward hasn't picked up a playoff point yet - Pyotr Khokhryakov. Patrick Thoresen and Tony Martensson are our current playoff top scorers with eight points each, and goaltender Mikko Koskinen has been very impressive with two shutouts and a 93.3% saves percentage.

The SKA - Dynamo Moscow match will begin at 19.30 local time inside the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace. 100 TV, KHL TV and Rossiya 2 will all broadcast the game live, while you can keep up to date with events either by following our matchcentre, or our official twitter account.