Puck out of play in the Lev zone. Faceoff inside.

Offiside Riga on the shoot-in, faceoff to centre ice.

Lev continues to kill the clock, play in the neutral zone.

Icing Lev.

Lev has Riga pinned deep in their own end, finally the puck ends up covered under a pile of bodies in front of the net. Faceoff inside.

Icing Riga.

Lev defence very stifling right now, Riga continually re-grouping and advancing but can't break through for a shot.

Nathan Oystrick takes a hard shot from centre ice, Tellqvist catches it hand holds on.

Long high shot by Jakub Krejcik, blocker save Tellqvist.

Jiri Novotny takes Andris Dzerins hard into the boards, the latter not liking it, and he gives the Lev captain a shove.

Paul Szczechura with another chance, this time he hits Popperle in the chest, play continues.

Puck played by a Lev high stick in the attacking zone. Faceoff outside.

Offside Lev.

Bukarts' shot deflected high.

Offside Lev.

Dangerous-looking Riga rush, the puck teed up for Szczechura, who fanned on it.

Juris Upitis with a wrister from the boards, caught and held by Popperle.

Marcel Hossa with a shot from the top of the circle, pad save Tellqvist.

A rush for Riga, Dzerins set to shoot but the puck slid off his stick harlmessly to Popperle who covered, followed by some pushing and shoving. Nothing comes of it. Faceoff in the Lev zone.

On late Lev rush, Petr Vrana takes a shot from inside the blueline that Tellqvist hangs onto.

Krisjanis Redlihs with a low slapper from the point, pad save Popperle, who covers.

Followed by Riga's top line coming back 2-on-2, glove save Popperle.

Krejcik with a low shot from the point for Lev through traffic, turned aside by Tellqvist.

Karsums down the right wing takes a wrister, save Popperle, who holds on.

Puck goes out of play. Faceoff in the Riga zone.

A couple of chances for Riga, first a shoulder save by Popperle, then almost a breakaway pass but the puck was a bit out of reach. Didn't catch the Riga players involved.

Juraj Mikus with a slapper from the point that goes through the legs of a Riga defender and then hits Tellqvist, who probably couldn't see it.

Lev had some sustained pressure in the Riga zone but unable to get any quality shots, eventually it's cleared . . .

Icing Lev.

Michal Birner gets the period's first shot, a backhander on the rush that's turned away by Tellqvist.

Unbelievably, the puck again deflected out of play right off the draw. Another faceoff in the Lev zone.

Another puck out of play, another faceoff in the Lev zone.

Paul Szczechura, who started the season with Lev, takes a slap shot that's blocked in front and goes out of play. Faceoff in the Lev zone.

Tomas Surovy takes a slapper from the blueline that hits Tellqvist and goes over the glass and out of play. Faceoff in the Riga zone.

Martins Karsums, Riga's leading scorer, takes a long shot on Popperle, stopped and covered.

Offside Riga, following a long stretch of frequent changes of possessions without scoring chances.

Slap shot from the point by Danielsson kicked out by Tellqvist.

Riga 3 on 2, Raitis Ivanans takes a weak-angle shot, turned away by Popperle.

One time slapper by Hossa, blocker save Tellqvist.

Icing Riga.

Back the other way, Popperle makes another save and holds on.

Lev's 2nd line with an entry into the zone, Michal Repik with the shot, glove save Tellqvist.

Lev back at full strength, another save by Popperle and another faceoff. After sputtering early, Riga started to get their act together late in that power play.

Shot from the point right off the draw by Redlihs, another save Popperle, only :08 left in the penalty.

Now Miks Indrasis gets Riga's second shot on the PP and Popperle holds on. It was a long shot entering the zone.

Lev doing a good job on the kill, only allowing the one shot so far and icing it twice.

Popperle makes a save and holds. 1:22 left in the Riga power play.

Marcel Hossa with a long shot, covered by Tellqvist.

Both teams really throwing the body on that last sequence--a physical start to this game, especially from the home Riga side.

Offside Riga.

Maris Bicevskis thows a bodycheck on Vitali Karamnov into the boards in the neutral zone.

Vatalijs Pavlovs with a long shoot-in, easily gloved and held by Popperle.

Icing Riga.

Now Tellqvist covers it amid a scramble around him.

Low wrist shot by Petr Vrana, kick save Tellqvist.

Nicklas Danielsson with a long slap shot from just inside the line, gloved and held by Swedish countryman Tellqvist.

The puck slides to Tomas Popperle and he covers it for the game's first whistle.

Latvian Martins Cipulis gets Lev's first shot, Mikael Tellqvist makes a blocker save.

Latvia's Robert Bukarts gets the game's first shot, shoulder save Popperle.

Fans really into it off the opening faceoff, the always passionate Riga fans and a small but loud contingent of Lev fans in the corner.

The national anthems of the Czech Republic and Latvia are finished, and the opening faceoff is moments away.

Starting Lineups:

Dinamo Riga: Tellqvist (Jučers) -- K. Rēdlihs, J. Rēdlihs - Galviņš, Sotnieks - Laviņš (A), Cibuļskis -- Karsums (C), Szczechura, Indrašiš - Bukarts, Džeriņš, Meija - Upītis, Pavlovs, Johnson - Ivanāns (A), Bičevskis, Biezais - Skvorcovs.

Lev Praha: Pöpperle (Štěpánek) -- Oystrick, Nakládal - Lepistö, Němec (A) - Mikuš, Mäenpää - Krejčík -- Rachůnek, Novotný (C), Danielsson - Birner, Vrána (A), Řepík - Cipulis, Surový, Hossa - Sekáč, Karamnov, Ņiživijs - Cingel.

Officials: Bukin, Zakharov - Golyak, Dedyulya.

Back on September 6, HC LEV Praha and Dinamo Riga faced off against each other at Prague´s Tipsport Arena to begin the KHL season for both teams. Martins Karsums scored for visiting Dinamo late in the first period, but the Lions got goals from Ľuboš Bartečko in the second period and Tomáš Surový in the third to win 2-1.

While the season starts full of promise for every team, Riga´s hope for making the playoffs has now expired, and they are playing these last three regular season games for little more than pride. For the Lions, however, a lot is at stake. They are currently in 7th place in the Western Conference, but their berth in the postseason is anything but secure

Here are the Western Conference standings for the teams whose fate is still undetermined:



Div Club GP W OW OL L GF : GA Pts
6. Bo HC Slovan Bratislava 49 17 9 5 18 115:118 74
7. Bo HC LEV Praha 49 21 1 4 23 126:130 69
8. Ta Dinamo Minsk 49 17 6 21 5 117:140 68
9. Bo Donbass Donetsk 49 17 6 21 5 128:135 68
10. Ta Atlant Moscow Oblast 49 17 4 7 21 128:138 66
11. Ta Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 49 16 2 8 23 130:142 60


In other games of interest to Lev, Dinamo Minsk plays in Chekhov and Donbass hosts CSKA Moscow in games that start at 4:30 and 5pm Prague time, respectively. Though they may be tempted to scoreboard watch, Václav Sýkora´s boys have a big game to play and can´t allow any distractions

To win, Lev will have to shut down Riga´s top-scoring trio, which includes one player they are very familiar with. Karsums is the team´s leading scorer with 31 points, followed by Miks Indrasis and Paul Szczechura with 26 each -- Szczechura, of course, started the season with Lev, going pointless in three games. He´ll have something to prove against his former mates, for sure. On defence, the Latvian pair of Krisjanis Redlihs and Guntis Galvins with 17 and 14 points, respectively. In goal, Mikael Tellqvist will likely get the start in goal. This will be Lev´s first look at him, as Maris Jucers played on opening night.

Though many players across the KHL had the past week off, many of Dinamo´s Latvian players had a very important Olympic qualifying tournament in their home arena, and they took 7 of 9 points to secure a berth in Sochi next year. In addition to many Dinamo players, two Lev forwards were there as well: Martins Cipulis and Alexandrs Nizivijs. Nizivijs actually started the season with Dinamo, so like Szczechura, he will have something to prove. Cipulis, of course, scored the game-winning goal late in the third period of Lev´s most recent game, a 5-4 win in Bratislava.

Lev is still hampered by some injuries, but that doesn´t seem to bother them lately. Without top-scoring forwards Jakub Klepiš and Erik Christensen, they managed to win the last three games. They will be without those two again on Wednesday, with Bartečko and Richard Gynge also not making the trip. Defenceman Ondřej Němec is the team´s top scorer among players who will dress, with 22 points. The forward trio of Surovy, Marcel Hossa and Petr Vrána have 19 points each, and of course they have Nicklas Danielsson and his 11 points in 13 games. Tomáš Pöpperle should get the start in goal.

Welcome. This game starts at 19:30 EET local time in Riga, 18:30 CET in Prague, 17:30 GMT, and 12:30 EST/09:30 PST in North America.