SKA - CSKA. Match day

Following the short break for the 2016 KHL All-Star Game, SKA will return to home ice to play HC CSKA Moscow.

After last season's epic KHL Gagarin Cup playoff series this match-up has become one of the league's most important, and everyone has been looking forward to this game for a long time. Three matches have already been played against each other this campaign, with CSKA taking two 4:3 and 4:2 wins compared to SKA's one 2:1 victory in Moscow. Our players should be full of motivation to level up the score today, however they will come up against a confident CSKA side. The Muscovites are leading the overall KHL table with 112 points, and have won their past seven matches in a row. Their star man Alexander Radulov is one of the KHL's top scorers with 55 points (20+35), and young goaltender Ilya Sorokin has been a revelation taking nine shutouts combined with a 95.9% saves percentage.

Our team have risen to fourth in the Western Conference after taking points in all six previous fixture in this home series, and are coming off the back of a 4:0 win against Metallurg Novokuznetsk and a 3:4 penalty shootout setback to HC Admiral Vladivostok. Mikko Koskinen has a 91.5% saves percentage, while Vadim Shipachyov has a large 56 points to his name (14+42).

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