SKA - Spartak. Match day

After playing four away matches in a row, SKA have returned home to Saint Petersburg to host HC Spartak Moscow.

These teams have already played against each other in Spartak's first KHL season since their sabbatical, and it went well for SKA as goals from Alexander Barabanov, Dmitry Kalinin and Jarno Koskiranta fired the team to a huge 3:1 win in the Russian capital. That match came in October, and since then Spartak have hit a rocky patch of form. Despite beginning the campaign with promise they have struggled recently, and have already fallen to 11th place of the Western Conference with 47 points. After beating Avangard 3:1 and HC Lada Togliatti the Muscovites have fallen to Ak Bars 1:6, Sochi 1:2 and Lokomotiv 3:4 with all of those defeats coming away from home. Ex SKA goaltender Evgeny Ivannikov hasn't been too impressive holding a 89.3% saves percentage, and Spartak's number one is generally regarded as being Finn Atte Engren (90.8%). Their top scorer is Czech forward Lukas Radil with 18 points (6+12), while defenceman Andrei Ermakov who spent last season in Saint Petersburg already has seven points (3+4).

SKA have been in excellent form of late, and have won the past three games against Lada, Lokomotiv and HC Sochi all by a score of 3:2. The team has now risen to eighth place of the conference, and still holds games in hand over nearest rivals Medvescak and Sochi. Captain Ilya Kovalchuk has ten points from the past five outings (4+6), and goaltender Igor Shestyorkin made 30 saves in his season debut against Sochi.

The SKA - Spartak match will begin at 19.30 local time inside the Saint Petersburg Ice Palace. Life78 and KHL TV will both broadcast the game live, and you can keep up to date with events by either following our online match centre or our official Twitter account.