Backlund covers the puck just as the penalty expires.

Offside Vityaz with :10 left in the penalty.

Nakladal takes two slappers from the point, one hits Backlund in the pad, the other goes wide.

Vityaz rushes quickly back the other way and Vehanen makes the save and holds for the faceoff.

Nakladal takes a wrister from the point just as the penalty expires, pad save Backlund.

Ondrej Nemec's shot from the point is deflected by a Lev stick in front out of play. Faceoff outside with 1:15 left in the power play.

Shot from the point by Mezei is kicked out by Vehanen.

Calle Ridderwall gets a burst of speed through the neutral zone and goes in on goal but Johan Backlund makes a nice pad save.

Ryan O'Byrne hammers Dmitri Shitikov behind the net. The Lev defencemen really throwing their weight around this period.

Mike Iggulden, the Vityaz goal scorer, tried to go for another on the wraparound, but Petri Vehanen gave no room inside the post. He eventually covers it.

Spencer Humphries throws a big hit along the boards on Viacheslav Solodukhin, who goes down.

Another Vityaz offside on the shoot-in, faceoff at centre ice.

Offside Vityaz, as the winger on the far side crossed the line just ahead of the shoot-in.

Erik Christensen with the chance off the draw, pad save Backlund, who covers.

Intentional offside called against Vityaz, so the faceoff is sent all the way down in their zone.

Rybin with a long shot from the line, Vehenan kicks it out.

Thornberg tries to go high glove side on Backlund, but he traps it against his shoulder and holds on.

Quickly back the other way, Vityaz goes offside.

Azevedo feeds Sekac for a quick shot that hits Backlund up high but stays out.

Shot attempt from Sevc is blocked, then the rebound is shot wide, play continues in the Vityaz zone and finally Johan Backlund manages to cover it.

Josh Hennessy with the shot off the rush from the left wing, hits Vehanen in the chest, play continues.

Shot attempt by Solodukhin is deflected out of play, faceoff in the Lev zone.

Lev back at full strength, as the puck was in the Vityaz zone for the last 20 seconds or so of that penalty. Then Vityaz rushes up the ice and the puck deflects out of play in the Lev zone. Faceoff inside.

A lot of battling going on for positioning in front of the Lev goal, making it difficult for Vehanen to see, and a shot hits him and then he dives on it. 1:23 left in the penalty.

Shot from the point by Pyett is deflected out of play. :52 left in the Vityaz power play.

Lev with a shorthanded rush and Backlund forced to cover the puck. Vitaz backed up into their own zone with 1:20 left in the power play.

Dinar Chafizulin with a slapper from the point, glove save Vehanen. 1:36 left in the power play.

Backlund covers the puck to force another stoppage in the Vityaz zone. Lev really coming on now.

Icing Vityaz.

Offside Lev, the puck comes outside the line and brought back in.

Icing Vityaz.

Pressure from Lev, Birner rips a slapper wide, and finally the puck hits the netting and play is stopped. Faceoff in the Vityaz zone.

Quick shot from Logan Pyett off the draw, glove save Vehanen.

Icing Lev.

Offside Lev.

Now a high shot from Vrana hits Backlund in the shoulder and goes high.

Lev called for intentional offside as there was a shot on goal from the neutral zone with a player trapped inside. Faceoff back down in the Lev zone.

Shot from the point by Oystrick, save Backlund and he holds on.

Vehanen catches a long shoot-in and holds on. Faceoff in the Lev zone.

Lev tried to keep up the pressure but a shot attempt was deflected out of play just as the penalty expired. Faceoff in the Vityaz zone.

Sevc attempts a one-timer but it's blocked, Lev pressure continues.

Off the draw Michal Birner tries to pick the top corner but Johan Backlund snares it. 1:52 left in the power play.

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

Hennessy the shot from the boards and just as Vehanen catches it he gets knocked over by an onrushing Vityaz forward. No penalty, much to the chagrin of the Lev bench, but the faceoff is outside.

Offside Vityaz.

Low shot by Ridderwall, another save by Backlund and the puck is cleared.

Now a backhander in close by Klepis, kicked out by Backlund.

Long high wrister from Klepis, blocker save Backlund.

Michal Birner throws a huge hit in the corner in the attacking zone. I didn't catch who the recipient was, but nobody seems shaken up.

Long slapper from Martin Thornberg, stick save Backlund.

Now a long wrister by Solodukhin and a glove save by Vehanen, who hangs on.

Lev back at full strength, just the one shot for Vityaz that power play and they're now 0/2.

Khafizulin with the low slapper from the point, pad save Vehanen and then it's cleared.

Icing Lev. Though they didn't score, Vityaz seems to have gained some momentum from that power play.

Captain Maxim Rybyn gets Vityaz's first shot on goal of the game, a slapper that hits Vehanen up high, but he can't cover and play continues.

Finally Johan Backlund covers the puck to get a whistle.

Nathan Oystrick pinches in and fires a shot that hits Backlund in the chest, Lev now maintaining pressure.

Ryan O'Byrne winds and fires from the point and it hits Viacheslav Solodukhin in the ankle and he goes down. Play is stopped and he gets up. The faceoff is going to be outside the line because the puck moved out before the whistle.

Icing Vityaz again.

Nakladal attempts a shot through traffic, I think it got through to Backlund for the game's first shot.

Icing Vityaz.

Ondrej Nemec attempts a shot from the point but it hits a Vityaz stick and goes over the glass. Faceoff in the Vityaz zone.

Both teams change up a minute in, no shots yet and play in the Lev zone.

The national anthems of the Russian Federation and Czech Republic are complete, and the opening faceoff is moments away.

Lev Praha is wearing their home red uniforms with blue and white trim, red NY Rangers-style pants and blue helmets. Vityaz Podolsk is wearing their white road uniforms with red sleeves, identical to the Detroit Red Wings design, red pants and white helmets.

Starting Lineups:

Lev Praha: Vehanen (Lukáš) – Oystrick, O'Byrne, Ševc, Nakládal, Mikuš, Němec, Humphries – Novotný, Kapanen, Klepiš – Ridderwall, Azevedo, Christensen – Sekáč, Zackrisson, Thörnberg – Birner, Vrána, Řepík – Cingel.

Vityaz Podolsk: Backlund (Saprykin) – Malevich, Khafizulin, Pyett, Mezei, Rozin, Golevkov, Korovkin, Kudinov – Rybin, Hennessy, Afinogenov – Korolyuk, Iggulden, Shitikov – Korolyov, Rybakov, Solodukhyn – Kudreman, Mamin, Poltorak.

Referees: Anisimov, Naumov – Birin, Medvedev.

Lev Praha won both meetings with Vityaz last year. Their first meeting was in the Moscow suburb of Chekhov on September 13 to open the Lions´ first road trip of the year. It remained a scoreless tie into the 57th minute, when Erik Christensen scored his 1st KHL goal in a game that finished 2-0. The return match was the last regular season home game of the year at Tipsport Arena, with Lev winning 5-2. Tied 1-1 after two periods, the game is best remembered for Nicklas Danielsson´s lacrosse-style wraparound goal early in the third period. The loss also mathematically eliminated Vityaz from the playoffs.

Vityaz had trouble scoring goals and winning games last season, finishing 12th of 14 teams in the Western Conference. By the end of the season, most of their top players had been traded off to other clubs, forcing them to rebuild almost from scratch this past off-season.

In the first five games, the goaltending duties have been shared between Igor Lisutin and Johan Backlund. Lisutin backed up Igor Kasutin for most of last season, and was impressive in goal in the late-season game in Prague. So far his numbers are the better of the two. Slovak Branislav Mezei is their only defenceman to score a goal so far, and Vladimir Malevich has 2 assists. Some might recognize the name of new acquisition Logan Pyett, a New York Rangers draft pick who played junior hockey for the Regina Pats and then for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL. Up front, they´ve added Alexander Korolyuk, Mike Iggulden and Maxim Afinogenov, who are the team´s top three scorers right now. Once reknown for their rough-and-tumble style of play, the team has since been almost completely rebuilt, although Dmitri Shitikov is 3rd in the league with 29 penalty minutes.

Of course, the biggest move the club made this off-season was moving within the greater Moscow area to Podolsk, where they now play their home games. They opened the season with five straight games at Podolsk Hero Arena, going 2-3, most recently being shut out 2-0 by Dynamo Moscow on Saturday.

While Vityaz opened with five games at home and will make their road debut on Tuesday, Lev began with four games on the road, collecting 7 of 12 points. The last game of the trip, a 4-3 loss to Spartak Moscow, was the only game that they failed to gain any points. After being given the night off that game, expect Petri Vehanen to return to the Lev net against Vityaz.

Of the 12 goals Lev scored on the four-game trip, all were by forwards. Tomáš Kubalík, Michal Řepík and Martin Thörnberg have all scored twice, with Thörnberg netting his first 2 of the year on Saturday. In terms of points, however, the leader is Nathan Oystrick, whose 3 assists are enough to put him on top. With Jiří Novotný missing the last three games, Oystrick has also acted as team captain.

Welcome. This game starts at 18:00 CEST local time in Prague, 20:00 MSK in Podolsk, 12:00 EDT.