Struggling Sochi up for Friday night hockey

Desperate to finally get back to winning ways, SKA will host bottom side Sochi in Saint Petersburg this evening with both teams aiming to keep within touching distance of the playoff spots.

NEW SEASON, SAME PROBLEMS

Sochi began the campaign with high hopes following a summer management overhaul. However, much to the dismay of their long-suffering supporters, an upturn in their fortunes is yet to materialise.

11 matches, two regulation wins, 31 goals, 10 points: the statistics truly are damning for the southern outfit. Coached by veteran manager Vladimir Krikunov, Sochi initially registered a couple of headline victories against Moscow-based organisations Dynamo (3:2 SO) and CSKA (2:0) at the start of the campaign, but that proved to be a false dawn; Lada Tolyatti are indeed the only team which they’ve since managed to beat.

Winless since 30 September, Sochi are coming into tonight’s showdown on the back of six straight defeats. In what has been a rotten October so far, their only point of the month was earned in a shootout setback to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg at home, and they haven’t scored more than two goals in a single match following their eventful 4:5 defeat to Admiral Vladivostok three weeks ago.  

Forwards Sergei Popov and Artur Tyanulin are the sole two Sochi forwards who are in double digits in terms of points. Moving back towards the blue line, promising 26-year-old Canadian Noel Hoefenmayer has impressed with seven points from 15 appearances, but he is the only Sochi defenseman to have found the net so far. Cameron Lee was recently signed from Amur Khabarovsk in an attempt to address the lack of productively from the point.

Another October signing is Maxim Tretyak from Lada, who’s been snapped up in order to add depth to their goalkeeping line which already consisted of KHL journeyman Pavel Khomchenko – who is currently on the sidelines with an injury - and league debutant Alexei Shchetilin. Interestingly, Shchetilin isn’t a particularly young newbie at 24 years of age, but he’s largely been solid since making the unexpected step up from the VHL.

Former SKA representatives Pavel Dedunov and Nikolai Polyakov will be making their maiden return to the Ice Palace since departing our team in the off-season. In a talking point worth mentioning, fellow forward Troy Josephs was one of Sochi’s marquee signings ahead of the new season, however his contract was terminated on Tuesday after he had picked up a mere two points from 10 games.

The first fixture between these two teams this season saw SKA emerge victorious by a score of 4:2 in Sochi with Rocco Grimaldi, Andrei Loktionov, Brennan Menell and Joseph Blandisi all netting during a second-period blitz.

LEADERS

GOALKEEPERS

Pavel Khomchenko: 14 matches, 4 wins, 91.7% save percentage, 2.75 GAA

Alexei Shchetilin: 4 matches, 0 wins, 91.5% save percentage, 2.98 GAA

DEFENSEMEN

Noel Hoefenmayer: 7 (4+3) points, -8

Vasily Machulin: 6 (0+6) points, -1

Artyom Volkov: 2 (0+2) points, +1

FORWARDS

Sergei Popov: 12 (3+9) points, -5

Artur Tyanulin: 11 (3+8) points, -5

Matvei Guskov: 9 (3+6) points, -6

SPECIAL TEAMS

PP

39 attempts, 8 goals, 20.5% conversion rate, 12^th place

PK

52 penalties, 10 conceded goals, 80.8% success rate, 2 shorthanded goals, 12^th place

WHERE TO WATCH

Puck-drop is scheduled for 19:30 local time. You can purchase a live video broadcast on the KHL’s official website, whereas text updates are available on our official X account.