HC Sochi, sans RW Matvei Michkov (PHI, 7th overall, 2023 NHL Entry Draft) yet again due to illness, were able to play Metallurg Magnitogorsk evenly for the first 40 minutes on Thursday, January 11th, handling them well in terms of controlling pace and possession. That all came undone in the third period. While they only allowed one goal in a “traditional” setting (the final two being on an empty net and a penalty shot), they were thoroughly outplayed and outshot by the Eastern Conference powerhouse, who clearly tilted the ice. G Mikhail Berdin put in a pretty Herculean effort, making 40 saves, but Sochi would ultimately fall 4-1 to mark their 15th consecutive defeat. Dmitry Kokorev’s squad is looking pretty dead in the water right now. They return home to Olympic Park on Tuesday, January 16th, to face Ak Bars Kazan to hopefully finally put this losing streak to an end.

SKA Saint Petersburg took on both a traditional and standings rival on Friday, January 12th. Ultimately, while Ilya Kovalchuk would net his 400th career KHL point via a 5-on-3 PP goal, this game ended up not being very competitive and SKA Saint Petersburg would emerge 5-2 victors over Spartak Moscow on the road. This scoreline actually flattered Spartak somewhat. SKA scored just under four minutes in (Mikhail Vorobyov, who also had two assists) and unleashed a barrage of four goals in a matter of just over four minutes after initially having their second goal of the game waved off due to offsides, with Sergei Tolchinsky netting two in a row and Arseni Gritsyuk scoring in his second straight game (which also continued a six game point streak) after Valentin Zykov began the sequence. This was a huge win for SKA, as it pushed them one point over Spartak in the standings to give them the third place spot in the Western Conference, while still having a game in hand over their hated adversaries. SKA will look to follow this up with another road win against Severstal Cherepovets on Sunday, January 14th.