Back the other way, Stepanek again forced to cover the puck for a faceoff in his own end.

Jiri Novotny lead a Lev rush and tried to beat Ahonen five-hole but it doesn't go through, play continues . . .

Puck rebounds off the end glass to Stepanek, who covers again.

Justin Hodgman with a wrist shot from the top of the circle that Stepanek catches and holds onto.

Jakub Stepanek makes a pad save on a shoot-in, then decides to cover.

Juraj Mikus attempts a slap shot from the point that's blocked in front.

Long, high shoot-in hits Ahonen in the chest, play continues in Metallurg zone.

Lev's 2nd line continues pressure, Jiri Novotny with the shot from the boards that Ahonen stops and covers.

Petr Vrana with a shot from in close, kept out by Ari Ahonen, play continues.

Icing Lev.

Metallurg 3 on 2, Georgi Misharin with the high shot turned aside by Stepanek, then continue pressure in the attacking zone.

Offside Lev, Ondrej Nemec couldn't hold the puck in at the point.

Lev is back at full strength and, energized by that shorthanded goal, are applying pressure in the Metallurg zone.

O'Reilly takes a slap shot form the boards, save Stepanek.

Yaroslav Kosarov cuts toward the Lev goal with the puck and takes a weak one-handed shot while being checked.

Alexei Dondarev with a big hit along the boards on Michal Repik.

Enver Lisin with a high wrister that hits Stepanek in the shoulder late in the power play.

Puck deflected out of play in the Lev zone, :48 left in the penalty.

O'Reilly takes a shot from the slot that Stepanek stops and covers. 1:05 left in the penalty.

Turnover in the Metallurg zone leads to a shot off the post, we might have a review when the play stops . . .

Metallurg ices the puck right as the penalty expires.

Nicklas Danielsson takes a slapper from the point that Ahonen holds onto. :20 left in the penalty.

Sustained control from Metallurg in the Lev zone, happy to move about the perimeter without shooting . . .

Offside Lev on the stretch pass, faceoff goes back in their own end.

Viktor Antipin's shot hits Stepanek in the shoulder.

Puck out of play in the Lev zone, faceoff inside.

Good shift for Mathias Porseland, a big hit along the boards and it finishes with a shot on goal that Ahonen holds for another faceoff.

Slap shot Christensen that hits Ahonen in the chest, he holds on.

Puck goes out of play between the benches, faceoff at Lev blueline.

Long shoot-in goes to Stepanek, who covers.

Offside Lev.

Metallurg pressure continues with lots of traffic in front, making life difficult for Stepanek.

Mats Zucharello took a shot that Stepanek stopped even though it looked like he couldn't see it through the traffic in front . .

Erik Christensen takes a shot that hits Ahonen in the shoulder and goes out of play. Faceoff inside.

Defensive forward Martins Cipulis leads a rare rush and tries to tuck the puck in, but Ahonen denies him and covers.

Lev at full strength, start on a rush.

Lev ice halfway through penalty, PP and PK units both change up.

Offside Metallurg on the pass. Faceoff at the blueline.

Metallurg back at full strength and go back on the offensive . . .

Big slap shot from the point by Krejcik, save Ahonen, play continues . . .

Lev power play goes offside. :36 left in the penalty.

Lev with some good early pressure, puck deflected out of play, faceoff inside.

Now Mozyakin fires a slap shot through traffic that hits Stepanek and deflects to the corner.

Metallurg is a skating team--Kazionov leads another rush, Stepanek the save, play continues.

Shot from Geogri Misharin appears to hit Stepanek in the mask--referee almost blew the whistle, then sensing Stepanek was fine, changed his mind.

Some end-to-end action: promising Metallurg rush finishes with Dmitri Kazionov sending a backhander wide.

Tomas Surovy tries to center a pass from behind the goal line, but Ahonen intercepts it and covers.

Slap shot from Yaroslav Kosov sails high over the Lev net.

Yevgeni Grigorenko takes a shot that hits Stepanek in the glove and stays in play . . .

Yevgeni Malkin's spot at centre ice on Metallurg's top line has been replaced by former Colorado Avalanche Ryan O'Reilly.

Tomas Surovy dodges a check in the neutral zone and feeds Michal Repik, whose shot is caught and held by Ahonen.

Justin Hodgman gets a head of steam and attempts a backhander on a rush that hits Stepanek in the arm.

Lev is back to full strength and clear the puck to the neutral zone.

Metallurg passes around and finally attempt a shot that is deflected out of play. Faceoff inside with :13 left in the penalty.

Penalty almost half over, Lev has iced twice without giving up any quality shots.

Tomas Mojzis with a low shot from the point, stick save Ahonen.

Denis Platanov with a hard wrister on the rush, Stepanek catches and holds.

Bodgan Potekhin with a shot from the slot, kicked away by Jakub Stepanek.

Lev comes back the other way forcing Ari Ahonen to make a save and cover the puck.

Metallurg's Mats Zuccharello gets the game's first shot on a rush, tried to beat a defenceman wide and took a backhander . . .

The national anthems of the Russian Federation and Czech Republic have been played, and the opening faceoff is moments away.

Back on September 27, 7-2 Lev Praha visited Magnitogorsk to begin their second road trip of the young season. The first-place Prague club was humbly defeated 6-1 that game, still the team´s worst defeat. The damage was done mainly by the team´s top scoring duo, the M&M boys: Sergei Mozyakin had 4 points and Yevgeni Malkin had 3. With the NHL lockout over, Malkin is now gone, but the Lions still have Mozyakin and several other offensive threats to deal with on Tuesday.

Mozyakin is the KHL´s leading scorer with an incredible 68 points in 39 games, so his outburst against Lev the first time around was no anomaly. His 30 goals is also a league-high, while his 38 assists ranks second, behind Malkin. With his centre gone, some might expect his production to taper off somewhat, and it might, but he´s clearly a threat no matter what. The team also has the likes of Nikolai Kulemin, who has 38 points and is a +25 -- tied for tops in the league, Justin Hodgman with 26 points, and Dmitri Kazionov and Mats Zuccarello with 20 each. In addition to Malkin, the team has also lost top-scoring defenceman Sergei Gonchar, handing the lead to Viktor Antipin, who has 20 points and a big threat from the point with the man advantage with 8 power-play goals, one of which came in the first meeting between these teams. Little wonder this team leads the KHL with 147 goals in 41 games.

As hard as it is to keep Metallurg from scoring, it´s almost as daunting trying to score on them. Their 92 goals against is tied for 5th-best in the league, and a big reason for that is the play of Ari Ahonen in goal. In 31 games, he has a 1.84 goals-against average, .930 save percentage and 4 shutouts, which are all near the top of the league.

Near the top, but not quite--the KHL´s shutout lead is jointly held by Vitali Kosheckhin of Severstal Cherepovets and Tomáš Pöpperle of Lev, thanks to Sunday´s 1-0 victory over Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. Despite the zero, we´re not likely to see Pöpperle this game, however, as coach Václav Sýkora likes to alternate goalies, making it Jakub Štěpánek´s turn. Sunday´s game, of course, was the first without top-line winger Jakub Voráček and stalwart defenceman Zdeno Chára, who are both on their way back to the NHL. Marcel Hossa replaced Voráček on the top line, though the lone goal came on the power play when Jakub Klepiš was on the ice with Erik Christensen and Nicklas Danielsson.

Sunday´s game also welcomed back captain Jiří Novotný, who had a solid game with a game-high 5 shots on goal, and saw the Lev debut of defenceman Jakub Nakladal, who was a physical presence, especially along the boards.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk starts action on Tuesday in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference with 82 points, one behind Ak Bars Kazan. Lev Praha is 7th in the West with 57 points, two ahead of Donbass Donetsk and two behind Severstal.

Welcome. This game starts at 18:00 GMT, 19:00 CET local time in Prague, 00:00 YEKT Wednesday in Magnitogorsk, and 13:00 EST/10:00 PST in North America.