SKA - Slovan. Match day

Following a three game long away series, SKA have returned to Saint Petersburg for a KHL regular season match against HC Slovan Bratislava.

These two teams have already met this campaign, with SKA recording a thumping 6:0 in Slovakia. Given that heavy defeat, Slovan will be full of motivation for this game, and led by ex SKA head coach Milos Riha, they have improved recently. Slovan impressively defeated both Lokomotiv (3:2 SO) and Dynamo Moscow (5:3) on the road, and they are coming off the back of two home wins against Ak Bars and Lada respectively.

However, despite those victories, Slovan still find themselves languishing in 13th place of the Western Conference on 29 points. They will be without some key figures today as well, as Tomas Kundratek, Marek Viedensky and Patrik Luza are all out injured. Overall, Slovan have scored only 53 goals this campaign compared to SKA's 106, and have let in 67. American forward Jeff Taffe is their top scorer with 15 points (6+9).

In stark contrast, SKA have won the last nine matches on the bounce, in turn pulling away at the top of the table with 61 points. Ilya Kovalchuk has been in fantastic form recently tallying up 8 points (5+3), while Finn Mikko Koskinen was named the KHL's best goaltender of the week.

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