SKA Saint Petersburg:

Game 40: Friday, January 3rd

SKA 6-3 CSKA Moscow

Game 41: Sunday, January 5th

SKA 5-2 Vityaz Moscow Region

SKA resumed action after the KHL’s New Year’s Break in triumphant fashion by winning decisively against their greatest traditional adversary to exact some revenge for December 25th, with Tony DeAngelo, Ivan Demidov, and Sergei Plotnikov all having three-point performances while Alexander Nikishin and Arseni Gritsyuk both had two points to their names. Yegor Zavragin was not tested much between the pipes in the first two periods and started to leak a bit in the final frame, but ultimately stood tall, stopping 25 of 28 for his 13th win of the season.

Demidov maintained his form against Vityaz with a goal and an assist to his name in yet another convincing win, in which VGK prospect Pavel Moisevich stopped 27 of 29. For his five points in these two games, Demidov was awarded both KHL Forward and Rookie of the Week. SKA’s homestand concludes against Spartak tomorrow, with a two-game road jaunt against Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to follow.

HC Sochi:

Game 40: Sunday, January 5th

Sochi 1-5 Dynamo Moscow

Game 41: Tuesday, January 7th

Sochi 0-2 Dynamo Moscow

At the beginning of this two-game series, Will Bitten extended his goal streak to four games, therefore accounting for him scoring in every game he had played for Sochi to that point. However, that would be as good as it got for that matchup in both/either iteration(s), as they were otherwise thrashed in the first match and lost a low event game in the second. The most memorable occurrence in the second game was having a goal which would have opened the game’s scoring in the second stanza, then looking strong on the attack in subsequent possessions (only for it not to amount to anything, of course). The team has only won once since the beginning of December, and it is hard to foresee a significant improvement in their fortunes before the season ends.

Next games:

SKA: @ Dynamo Moscow – Tomorrow (1/8), 9:00 AM EST

Sochi: vs. Amur Khabarovsk – Thursday, January 9th, 11:30 AM EST