Klepis from behind the net finds Azevedo, his quick shot hits Galimov, who holds on again. He's up to 40 saves now.

Topi Jaakola's shot from the point gets away from him and sails over the glass untouched. Faceoff outside with :35 left in the power play.

Lukas Cingel hits the goalpost. Second time Lev has hit iron this game, and this time Cingel rushed his shot as Galimov was at the other side of the net.

Long shot from Jaakola, Galimov juggles it but eventually it's cleared. Long stretch of play here without a whistle.

Lev dumps it in, as they seem content to run time off the clock and let Atlant chase it.

Repik with the shot from the top of the slot, save Galimov and Birner puts the rebound wide, then Atlant clears the zone.

Back comes Lev, Pacovsky with the backhander that hits Galimov in the chest, and he freezes it.

and Atlant back on the counter-attack, Kadeikin shoots from the wing but Vehanen catches and holds. Some good end-to-end action that sequence.

Lev top line rushes up ice, Klepis for Novotny, who one-times it just wide.

Janne Niskala with the blast from the point, hits Vehanen in the chest and then the Lev netminder covers the rebound. This is the best sustained pressure from Atlant this game.

More action in the Lev zone, Artyukhin and Jaakola battling for position in front of the net, finally the puck goes out of play.

Play in the Lev zone and Kablukov circles the net, his shot into traffic is eventually covered, though I'm not sure if Vehanen stopped it or it was blocked on the way.

Lev's 4th line with possession in the Atlant zone again, a couple of shots and finally Galimov covers it again.

Atlant with possession off the draw and carry it into th eLev zone, Kablukov a drive through traffic that hits Vehanen and he holds it for a faceoff.

Atlant comes into the Lev zone 2 on 2, Engqvist passes to ,Mikhnov but his one-timer sails wide.

Now it's Lev's top line with the pressure, Klepis with the shot but it's blocked and deflects out again.

Now Thornberg with the shot in close but it's deflected out of play. Faceoff inside.

Lev's 3rd line rushes up the ice and Zackrisson with the blast, off the shoulder of Galimov.

Play in the Lev zone and Vehanen finally covers it at the side of the net. They've started to get more of the play at this end of the ice now but Atlant still not getting shots through to the Lev goalie, as Lev is doing a masterful job of defending.

Justin Azevedo rags the puck while shorthanded, had a chance to rush but forced wide and eventually puts it deep to kill time.

Maxim Velikov with a drive from the point but it's blocked, then cleared again. Atlant without a shot on this power play.

Thornberg clears the puck, Atlant regroups.

Nice shot block by Topi Jaakola on a rare Atlant offensive chance. Shots are 28-6 for Lev just past the halfway point of this game.

Lev back to the attack again, Cingel with the backhand, stopped and covered by Galimov.

Thornberg shoots from close to the boards, pad save Galimov and he covers with 1:37 left in the penalty.

Atlant with the puck in the Lev zone and Petri Vehanen with his first work of the period and he covers it for a faceoff.

Atlant back to full strength, play in the neutral zone.

Atlant ices the puck late in the penalty, one more chance for Lev.

Now Jaakola from the blue line and it hits Galimov through traffic, though I'm not sure he saw it, and after a bit of a scramble he manages to find it and cover it with 1:07 left in the penalty.

Gragnani with a wrister from the point, blocker save Galimov.

Lev with a forray into the Atlant zone, Novotny with the shot and Galimov gets a piece of it with the glove and it goes to the corner.

Repik with a long shot, directed to the corner by Galimov.

A wrister from Cingel and Galimov forced to cover the puck again. It's been like a tilted rink this period and the home fans are whistling in frustration.

Another Lev rush into the Atlant zone, Petr Vrana is forced wide and shoots, but he has a bad angle and hits the side of the net. Play continues.

Jakub Klepis with the wraparound attempt but Galimov gives him no room at the post and he freezes it.

Lev goes back into the Atlant zone, shots from the point by Gragnani and Nemec are both stopped by Galimov and he finally covers.

Lev with possession in the Atlant zone, no shots getting through though.

Two shots from Topi Jaakola on that sequence, one from the point and one in closer. Galimov stops them both, but Lev has been coming on.

Jiri Novotny with a blast from the blue line that sails over the crossbar and hits the glass.

Dominik Pacovsky with the low wrister, pad save Galimov.

Back in the Atlant zone, Lev's 4th line with some more pressure and Galimov finally covers it. The line of Pacovsky, Cingel and Ridderwall has looked good early for Lev.

Atlant rush into the Lev zone, Radulov takes a pass and fires from the top of the circle but Vehanen catches it and hangs on for a faceoff.

Jakub Klepis with a dangerous looking rush into the Atlant zone but his shot is deflected out of play. Faceoff inside.

A chance for Lev's 4th line as Ridderwall with the wrister that hits Galimov up high, he juggles it but finally covers it with traffic all around him and we've got some pushing and shoving after the whistle. No penalties are going to come of it, it seems.

Atlant putting on pressure in the Lev zone. Vitali Novopashin with a big blast from the point that's blocked in front and deflected out of play. Faceoff inside.

Atlant back at full strength and they now have the puck in the Lev zone.

Offside Lev. They've yet to get anything going on this power play and there's just :20 left.

Atlant ices and both their PK and the Lev PP units change. Lev doing a good early job of passing around the perimeter but not able to gain anything inside yet.

Atlant's Engqvist gets the game's first shot, but Petri Vehanen of Lev makes the save and covers for the game's first whistle.

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

Atlant is wearing their home blue uniforms with yellow trim, which includes a yellow stripe down the right arm, blue pants and helmets. Lev Praha is wearing their road white uniforms with blue and red trim, red NY Rangers-style pants and white helmets.

Starting Lineups:

Atlant Mytishchi: Galimov (Borisov) – Novopashin, Niskala, Rukavishnikov, Petrov, Velikov, Dyblenko, Atyushov, Batyrshin – Yashin, Kablukov, Koltsov – I. Radulov, Engqvist, Shmelyov – Artyukhin, Trubachov, Glukov – Haataja, Kadeikin, Mikhnov.

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

Referees: Pikhachek, Gofman – Birin, Zakharenkov.

As the games pass, the traffic jam that is the KHL Western Conference shows no sign of untangling -- SKA St Petersburg and Dynamo Moscow are on top, Dinamo Minsk and Slovan Bratislava are at the bottom, and in the middle is a complete free-for-all including ten teams, who are re-arranging themselves almost daily.

After losing two games in a row, Lev is now on the outside of the playoff picture, but just barely. They´re also just a win a way from jumping into fifth place and have a game in hand on most of the teams ahead of them. Friday´s opponent will be Atlant Moscow Oblast, a team just one point above them but has played one more game.

As has been the case with Lev this year, it´s been scoring by committee for Atlant, with several players producing but nobody piling up the points. Their leader so far is Alexander Kadeikin with 10 points, followed by four players -- Konstantin Koltsov, Sergei Shmelyov, Igor Radulov and Andreas Egqvist -- with 9. Koltsov´s 8 goals is far-and-away tops on the team, with nobody else scoring more than 5. Another leader of sorts on the roster is tough guy Viktor Artyukhin, who leads the league with 113 penalty minutes in 19 games, to go along with 4 points.

On defence, American Bobby Sanguinetti, formerly of the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, leads the pack with 7 points. Another notable name on the back end is veteran Finn Janne Niskala, a former SM-liiga teammate of Lev goalie Petri Vehanen.

Speaking of Vehanen, he´s likely to get the start on Friday after getting the night off on Wednesday. At the other end of the ice will probably be Stanislav Galimov, who has started 19 of Atlant´s 23 games and has a 1.91 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.

As for Lev, they will be hoping to bounce back from Wednesday´s outing in St Petersburg that was scoreless through two periods before they gave up five goals in the third. As disheartening as the loss was, a win on Friday will put them .500 for the road trip and give them a good feeling heading into the week-long international break to follow.

Lev and Atlant met in back-to-back games last November, with each team winning on home ice. Petr Vrána scored Lev´s lone goal in a 2-1 loss in the Moscow suburb of Mytishchi on November 18, but they got revenge three days later in Prague in which Jakub Klepiš broke a 2-2 tie in the third period and Lev won 4-2.

Welcome. This game starts at 19:30 MSK local time in Mytishchi, 16:30 CET in Prague, 11:30 EDT.