SKA Saint Petersburg had the sort of game that they were prone to having often in the earlier stages of the 2023-24 KHL season against Severstal Cherepovets on Sunday, January 14th. Despite out-shooting the home team, they were felled 3-2, rendering strong efforts at a comeback attempt in the third period and an excellent performance by forward Arseni Gristyuk (who scored both of the team’s goals as he maintained his outstanding recent form) for naught. Head coach Roman Rotenberg’s squad will try again tomorrow (1/17) at home against Amur Khabarovsk. The playoff picture is beginning to cement itself in the Western Conference with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl today having become the first team in the KHL to clinch a playoff spot (who are currently level on points with Dynamo Moscow with 72, but ahead via tiebreaker) after their victory against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, so the upcoming part of the schedule is very essential for the currently fourth-seeded SKA.

Dmitry Kokorev’s HC Sochi group, on Tuesday, January 16th, tasted something against Ak Bars Kazan that they hadn’t in quite some time – The sweet nectar of victory. The game had a troubling start, as it began with forward Alexander Perevalov getting cut by a skate blade to the face, though he fortunately was able to return after some maintenance wearing a cage. Dmitry Utkin would score two fast-paced goals within a matter of minutes before the first period was up. Ultimately, this would be the difference maker, as Ak Bars would solve Sochi netminder Nikita Bogdanov only once (a power play bomb by Alexander Radulov assisted by Mitchell Miller) on 32 shots on goal. A late ENG by Nikolai Chebykin would ice it for HC Sochi, as they would win their first game since late November. This win ended a horrific 15 game losing streak which seemed destined to continue even longer due to the continued illness-related absence of Matvei Michkov (PHI, 7th overall, 2023 NHL Entry Draft). At this point, while not mathematically eliminated, it seems unlikely that the Leopards will claw back into the eighth seed. However, it would be entertaining to watch them go on one last run before the season ends. They will try to gather up more points and build upon this result against Traktor Chelyabinsk on the road on Saturday, the 20th.