No penalty on the play, faceoff in the Lev zone.

Mozyakin shoots from far out, Vehanen stops and freezes it. Metallurg back at full strength and the faceoff in the Lev zone.

Now the puck hops over Nemec's stick and into the neutral zone, Lev with one last rush on the PP . . .

Puck iced off the draw, Lev starts back.

Koshechkin now makes a glove save to stop play with :42 left in the penalty.

Now Lev calls a timeout, so we have both teams using their timeouts on the same stoppage. Coach Sykora wants to make sure no one gets their signals crossed down 2 men.

Timeout Metallurg--not a surprise here.

Puck goes into the Metallurg bench, faceoff outside the line.

Now the puck goes out of play. Faceoff in the neutral zone outside the Metallurg line.

Oystrick the wrister from the point, Vrana tried to tip it in front but it hits Koshechkin and goes to the corner.

Icing Metallurg.

Vladimir Malenkikh tried to take a run at Calle Ridderwall, but just got a piece of him and crashed heavily himself into the boards.

Now Nathan Oystrick shoots from the point, Koshechkin kicks it out and the rebound is fired out of play. Faceoff outside.

Ridderwall shoots on the Lev rush, blocker save Koshechkin.

Now the puck is deflected out of play in the Lev zone, faceoff outside.

Erik Christensen with one hand on his stick shoots on Koshechkin, easy stick save. Lev coach Sykora wants a penalty on the play, none forthcoming.

Now the puck goes into the netting above the glass in the Metallurg zone as there's another board-thumping hit. Physical play really picking up this 3rd period. Faceoff outside.

Platonov with the hard hit on Jaakola in the corner.

Icing Metallurg.

Lev is a strong defensive team and they're playing their typical 3rd period with the lead--should be interesting against a team with the firepower of this Magnitogorsk team.

Nemec rides Mozyakin hard into the boards in the corner.

Icing Metallurg.

Now a Lev rush and a shot by Danielsson, glove save Koshechkin, who hangs on.

Lev back at full strength but they're not out of trouble, Lee passes to Zaripov for the one-timer, pad save Vehanen.

Lee again from the point, stick save Vehanen.

Metallurg back at full strength, Nicklas Danielsson shoots on the rush trying to pick the near side but it's kicked out by Koshechkin.

Martin Sevc with the low slapper from the point, pad save Koshechkin, who covers with :07 left in the power play.

It's now 5 on 4, play in the Metallurg zone.

Zaripov circles the Lev net and tries to find Mozyakin in front--he gets it but is tied up and can't get a shot away. That's Metallurg's most dangerous duo.

Ondrej Nemec shoots right off the draw, hits Koshechkin in the shoulder.

Then Mikus shoots from the point, blocked and iced to kill the rest of the penalty.

Danielsson attempts a slapper from the point, deflected just wide.

Finally Koshechkin gloves it with 1:15 left in the penalty.

Oystrick from the point, then Klepis on the rebound both stopped by Koshechkin.

Sergei Tereschenko with the low wrister from the point, pad save Vehanen.

Now the play goes back into the Metallurg zone, Koshechkin covers and we have some pushing and shoving after the whistle. No penalties coming though.

Long shot by Repik, stick save Koshechkin.

Quickly back the other way Denis Platonov whistles a shot high and wide.

Thornberg tries a quick shot in front, stick save Koshechkin.

Play continues in the Lev zone. Timkin tries to bank it in off Vehanen from behind the net but he covers for a faceoff.

Finally Vehanen covers. Metallurg really coming on at the end of that power play and in the moments after it ended.

Milan Gulas tries to cut out of the corner with the puck and slide it under Vehanen, but the Lev goalie had the paddle down and it doesn't get through.

Erik Christensen shoots from almost the corner, kicked out by Koshechkin.

Lev applying pressure and finally Koshechkin covers.

Martin Sevc blasts from the point, blocker save Koshechkin.

Dmitri Kazionov comes out from behind the net and tries to go high on Vehanen, hits his shoulder and goes high.

Metallurg shoot-in goes out of play, faceoff outside the Lev blueline.

Rinat Ibragimov attempts a one-time slapper that sails wide.

Now a Lev shoot-in, stick save Koshechkin and another stoppage.

Thornberg feeds Zackrisson on a Lev rush, but he can't handle the pass on his backhand and it goes into the corner. Then Zackrisson shoots from long range, caught and held by Koshechkin.

Icing Metallurg.

The puck slides into the Lev zone and Petri Vehanen comes out to cover it.

The puck deflects out of play in the Metallurg zone, faceoff outside.

Following a connection issue, we're now just past the halfway mark of the first period and Calle Ridderwall dumps a long shot on goal that Koshechkin covers. Shots now 3-2 Lev.

Icing Lev.

Lev's Michal Repik gets the game's first shot on goal--he almost had a breakaway but the puck was rolling on him and he had to just slap it at Vasili Koshechkin, who eventually covers it.

Justin Azevedo with a big open-ice hit on Yevgeni Biryukov and the Metallurg defenceman was leaving his own zone.

The puck goes out of play in the Lev zone and the penalty is over. Both teams still shotless in this game.

Jakub Klepis intercepts a pass and leads a shorthanded 2 on 1 with Nicklas Danielsson. They fail to get a shot but kill off a good chunk of time.

Lev ices for the second time, Metallurg still shotless more than halfway through this power play.

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. Metallurg Magnitogorsk is wearing road white uniforms with navy blue, red and silver trim, navy blue pants and white helmets.

Starting Lineups:

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

Metallurg Magnitogorsk: Koshechkin (Ustinsky) – Ibragimov, Birykukov, Lee, Tereschenko, Khabarov, Malenkikh, Metlyuk – Mozyakin, Kovář, Zaripov – Gulaš, Kazionov, Shenfeld – Potekhin, Hodgman, Timkin – O'Reilly, Malinovsky, Platonov – Grigorenko

Referees: Karabanov, Odinš – Mikhel, Shikhanov.

Consistently one of Russia´s top teams over the past two decades, Metallurg Magnitogorsk has won league championships in 1999, 2001 and 2007, and three European championships. Currently they sit 3rd place in the Eastern Conference with 23 points.

Vasili Koshechkin is Metallurg´s main man between the pipes and he´s been strong, recording a goals-against average of 2.06 so far, which is a big bonus for a team with as much offensive firepower as they have. He´s coming off a 3-0 shutout over Traktor Chelyabinsk on Thursday, the team´s most recent outing.

For North American followers, the most intriguing figure of this team is its new coach: Mike Keenan, a veteran NHL bench boss who was often in the limelight. Other names to follow might be SUNY-Potsdam grad Chris Lee, who leads all KHL defencemen in scoring with 10 points in 11 games, and forward Justin Hodgman, who made a name for himself with the OHL´s Erie Otters and was one of Metallurg´s big guns last year. Czech fans will be interested in this game due to the club´s leading scorer, Jan Kovář, formerly of Plzeň. Kovář is centring Metallurg´s top line -- on his wings are Danis Zaripov and the leading scorer in the KHL last season with 76 points in 78 games: Sergei Mozyakin.

Lev Praha found out first hand how dangerous a scorer he was last season. In the first meeting between the teams on September 27 in Magnitogorsk, Mozyakin put up 4 points in a 6-1 drubbing. The return encounter in Prague on January 8 wasn´t much better as the team from the Urals prevailed 5-2. Jakub Klepiš was the most productive Lion in the two contests, figuring in on all three of Lev´s goals.

Klepiš was one of the team´s most outspoken critics of its play on the last road trip, on which only 5 of a possible 12 points were collected, but offered optimism for the future, saying, "This trip wasn´t successful but we know what we were missing, so we need to work together and fix it."

What was missing, of course, was scoring, and more precisely finish around the net. Over the course of the recent four-game road trip Lev fired 64 shots on goal in the first periods combined, but that yielded only one goal. They did get some fine performances on the trip, however, from defencemen Martin Ševc and Topi Jaakola and forward Patrik Zackrisson, who all had 2-goal games on the trip. Niko Kapanen also scored twice in the trip´s first game in Novokuznetsk, but he suffered a lower-body injury in the same game and has been out of the lineup ever since. He's not in the lineup tonight.

Probably their best performer on the trip, and in fact the whole season, was goaltender Petri Vehanen, who was recently voted Player of the Month by Lev fans. They´ll hope from another big game from him to keep high-scoring Magnitogorsk at bay.

Welcome. This game starts at 19:00 CEST local time in Prague, 23:00 YEKT in Magnitogorsk, 13:00 EDT.