On the road to defend a record

11 January 2025

Your record-breaking Dragons are taking a six-game winning streak out on the road and looking to close that four-point gap to the playoff places. And our Foo brothers are out to extend their individual hot streaks. Between them, they have 14 points over the last six games.

Lada Togliatti (a), Jan. 12, 1600 Moscow Time

Last time out: This is a bit of a revenge mission after we lost 1-2 at home to the Motormen back in November. Yegor Chernikov’s late goal cost us at least a share of the points on that occasion.

Familiar faces: Goalie Konstantin Volkov moved from Mytishchi to Togliatti on deadline day. This could be his debut for his new club after seven appearances for the Dragons.

Setting the scene: Like us, Lada is in the thick of the battle to make the playoffs. The Motormen are ninth in the Eastern Conference, a point behind Sibir at the time of writing. Unlike Kunlun, though, Lada’s recent form is less consistent. Under Pavel Zubov, who replaced Oleg Bratash as head coach earlier in the season, they’ve tended to alternate wins and losses. The last back-to-back victories were more than a month ago and we’ve just seen a 5-0 success followed by a 0-5 defeat. On this evidence, a 1-0 verdict against Barys last time might be good news for us.

The final days of player trading were not kind to Lada, either. Goalie Vladislav Podyapolsky left for Dynamo Moscow, and leading forwards Troy Josephs and Ostap Safin also departed. In their absence, Dmitry Kugryshev is an even more important figure and he has five assists in the last five games. It speaks to the credit of Zubov and his team that, despite a difficult season in Togliatti, the playoff dream is still very much alive.

Avangard Omsk (a), Jan. 14, 1630 Moscow Time

Last season: We’ve not yet faced the Hawks this season. Last term, Red Star lost twice but both games were tight. An OT loss at home in October was followed by a 4-6 reverse on the road the following month.

Familiar faces: Tomas Jurco played under Mikhail Kravets in Omsk last season, contributing 16 (8+8) points from 21 games, and a further 5 (3+2) in the playoffs. In the Avangard ranks, Nail Yakupov began the season in fine form with us before returning to Siberia and Ryan Merkley made a similar journey after 19 games for Red Star this term.

Setting the scene: For a time, the Hawks looked intent on setting a KHL record for the number of head coaches in one season. Now, at last, Guy Boucher is established behind the bench (the fourth incumbent this season, including two ‘acting’ head coaches). All that chopping and changing had predictable consequences for the team, which hasn’t quite added up to the sum of its parts this term. The long-term absence of the injured Vladimir Tkachyov is a major factor: a player of his caliber would be a loss for any offense. But at times the recruitment policy has resembled a revolving door, meaning little consistency on the ice.

The New Year brings signs that Boucher (who is not related to prolific Hawks forward Reid Boucher) is starting to impose his identity on the team. Three road wins – impressive at Neftekhimik and Ak Bars, then a crazy 6-5 verdict at Severstal – have eased anxiety about missing the playoffs. And some chap called Yakupov is in hot form, with 7 (4+3) points in the last five games. I feel like I’ve heard that name before somewhere.

Spartak Moscow (a), Jan. 17, 1930 Moscow Time

Last time out: Our current hot streak includes a 4-2 win over Spartak at the end of last year. The Foo family combined for three goals in the last 10 minutes to throw the Gladiators to the lions.

Familiar faces: It’s a quick return to Spartak for our new goalie Patrik Rybar. The Slovak international was placed on waivers by the Red-and-Whites last month, but has already proved his value here with a debut shut-out against CSKA. He might line up against ex-Red Star goalie Artyom Zagidulin, who played on loan with us during our first season.

Setting the scene: Last season, Alexei Zhamnov had Spartak as an entertaining but inconsistent team. This time, there are signs that the Red-and-Whites could finish high in the Western Conference standings. It’s unlikely that anyone will catch runaway Lokomotiv, but Spartak is currently tied on 57 points with city rivals Dynamo and CSKA.

That success is built on goals: with 140 this season, Spartak is second only to SKA. Defensively, things are not so hot: 121 goals allowed ranks 14 in the KHL. For comparison, Vityaz, currently 10^th in the West, has allowed just one more. That, broadly, was the picture last season as well. The big difference is the rise of Spartak’s secondary scoring. Previously, if you could stop Nikolai Goldobin and his line, you could effectively silence Spartak’s threat. Goldobin, Poryadin and Morozov are still a big threat, but the addition of Adam Ruzicka and the emergence of the fast-maturing Alexander Pashin makes Spartak more dangerous. The problems are at the other end: uncertainty over the first choice goalie, the loss of defensive lynchpin Andrei Mironov to long-term injury.