Novotny down low tries to centre for Vrana but his shot doesn't get through.

Denis Kulyash with a slapper, hits Engren and he hangs on.

Ivanov tries to get free in the Lev zone but he's tied up and doesn't get a shot away.

Perezhogin fires a slapper low and wide.

Lev rush the other way, Novotny's shot deflected out of play. Faceoff in the Avangard zone.

Baranka flips the puck into the Lev zone, Engren steers it to the corner.

Thornberg clipped by a stick after the whistle but the referee's back was turned to him behind the net, so there's no call. Thornberg goes to the bench absolutely furious.

Kazakov flips the puck into the Lev zone, Engren catches it and holds on.

Sevc shoots from the point, blocked, gets it back and shoots again, deflected wide through a crowd.

Avangard back at full strength and they tried to find Perezhogin, out of the box, with a breakaway pass but it was too far in front of him and went for icing.

Oystrick the slapper, defleted by Thornberg in front off the pad of Garon.

Maenpaa ices the puck and that should do it for the penalty.

Shot from the point by Baranka, glove save Engren with :46 left in the penalty.

Kazakov with the wrister from the boards, pad save Engren.

Avangard to the attack now, Berdnikov with the backhander blocked in front.

Klepis with another chance right in front but fires just wide. The crowd really into it now.

Ivan Baranka fires a wrister high and off the glaass.

Offside Lev.

Play is stopped in the Avangard zone as Dominik Pacovsky, who drove hard to the net, was in Mathieu Garon's goal crease. Faceoff outside.

Martin Sevc knocks down Zherebtsov in a neutral-zone collision. Sevc isn't going to lose many of those battles.

Another icing call against Lev.

Icing Lev.

A bouncing puck comes to Atte Engren and he covers it for a faceoff in the Lev zone.

Birner with a low wrister, pad save Garon, the puck then comes outside the blueline and back in so Lev is called for offside.

Long stretch of play finishes with a wrist shot by Pyanov, caught and held by Engren. There's been a change to the Lev goal, which is now credited to Jiri Sekac. I'll update that ASAP.

Avangard finally gets a shot late in the power play as Kirill Lyamin fires it from the point, there's a bit of a scramble in front but Engren covers it with just :15 left in the penalty.

Now Avangard goes on the attack, Blatak flips the puck toward the net that changes direction and hits Engren up high. Eventually the puck goes out of play, faceoff in the Lev zone.

Mikko Maenpaa tees up a big slapper from the point, right on Garon who holds it, then gets bumped after the whistle and the players gather, but nothing happens.

Offside Avangard.

Another icing call against Avangard, who are suddenly back on their heels the last while after being clearly the more dominant team for the first half of this game.

Faceoff win for Novotny in the attacking zone, Ryan O'Byrne's slap shot attempt hits a stick and goes out of play, so we'll do it again.

Icing Avangard.

Nemec with the rising wrister through traffic, Garon bats it to the corner with his blocker.

Offside Avangard, Kalinin tried to keep it in at the blueline but couldn't quite.

Slapper from Miroslav Blatak hits Engren up high, he traps it agianst his body and gets a whistle.

Offside Avangard.

Topi Jaakola shoots from the point but it is deflected wide as it goes through a crowd in front.

Puck deflected out of play off the draw and the faceoff is sent outside.

Michal Repik rips a slapper headed high blocker side on the left-handed Garon, but he closes the gap under the arm and holds onto the puck.

Quickly back the other way, Garon makes a save and covers.

Berdnikov looked like he was trying a wraparound to the backhand but he's pushed away from the net and never gets a shot.

Finally Engren covers the puck, as it seems Avangard is trying to build up pressure again.

Play in the Lev zone, Kostitsyn with a low wrister, stick save Engren.

Strong penalty killing from Avangard continues, as they force a faceoff in the Lev zone with :42 left in the penalty.

Kalinin with a bit of a break shorthanded and takes a long shot on Engren, who quickly tries to play it back up ice.

Lev gets the puck into the slot off the draw and there's a bit of a scramble before Avangard ice it.

Avangard on the rush, Perezhogin with the low wrister from the left wing, Engren catches and holds it.

Martin Sevc hammers Sergei Shirokov in the boards in the corner, and he gets up slowly and makes his way to the bench. Avangard then called for offside and the bench is still yapping at the referees, thinking it should have been boarding.

Pyanov makes a centring pass attempting to find Berdnikov in front, but he's driven into the Lev goal. Play continues.

Icing Lev.

Ridderwall with a long wrister, Garon catches it and plays it as Lev changes.

Now the puck goes out of play in the Avangard zone, faceoff outside.

Lead pass for Pacovsky, he tries to shoot but is brought down, no call. Lev bench and fans up in arms, but it looked like it was a stick-on-stick check.

Shot attempt from Nemec is deflected out of play, faceoff in the Avangard zone.

Puck goes into the Avangard zone, Jakub Klepis rips a hard wrister high and wide off the glass.

Michal Repik attempts a wraparound and gets dumped, but still gets a weak shot off that Garon handles.

Miroslav Blatak with a shot from the boards, stick save Engren.

Slapper from Avangard captain Denis Kulyash, Engren the save and covers. 4-on-4 play continues.

Valentin Pyanov with the wrister that goes off Engren's shoulder and out of play. Faceoff in the Lev zone.

Maxim Kazakov with the wrister from the top of the circle, save Engren and Perezhogin gets his stick in there after the whistle, which draws the ire of Jakub Nakladal. After two games off, Lev glad to get the physical defenceman back in the lineup, and his presence already noticed.

Offside Avangard on the shoot-in, faceoff at centre ice.

Denis Kulyash keeps it in at the point and shoots a wrister along the ice, stick save Engren.

Berdnikov with the shot off the draw, I don't think Engren could see it but it hit him and the puck goes to the corner.

Icing Lev.

Vrana tries to feed Repik in front for the one-timer, I think it was blocked before it got through to Garon, though.

Lev called for off-side on this next shoot-in, so the faceoff is going right back to centre.

Lev shoot-in goes out of play and the faceoff will go to centre ice.

Dmitri Semin with the shot from the slot but he doesn't get much on it as he's wrapped up, stick save Engren.

Ridderwall circles the net and feeds O'Byrne at the point, his long shot is wide.

Slapper from Ondrej Nemec is deflected wide and off the glass.

Physical play picking up and Martin Thornberg seems to be a target of Avangard -- he took checks by Pivtsakin and Semin into the boards that shift.

Clean faceoff win for Kalinin and Goncharov with the low slapper that goes through traffic, Engren directs it to the corner.

Ivan Baranka with a wrister from the point, glove save Atte Engren, who holds on.

Offside Lev on the pass, faceoff at centre ice.

Denis Kazionov with a shot from the boards, off Engren's pad and to the corner for the first Avangard shot of the game.

Icing Avangard.

Avangard back at full strength and Garon covers the puck for a stoppage.

Maenpaa partially fans on a slapper from the point, Vrana in front backhands it on goal into Garon's pads, play continues.

An Avangard clearing attempt goes through the open door at the Lev bench during a change, so the faceoff will be at the Lev blueline with 1:10 left in their power play, and they don't have a shot yet. In fact there are no shots at all in this game.

Lev with the early rush, Thornberg tries to centre to Azevedo but he's checked and can't handle the pass.

The national anthems of the Russian Federation and the Czech Republic are complete and the game will begin shortly.

Lev Praha is wearing their home red uniforms with blue and white trim, red NY Rangers-style pants and blue helmets. Avangard Omsk is wearing their road white uniforms with red and black trim, black pants and white helmets.

It's Revolution Day in the Czech Republic, in celebration of the start of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, and visiting Avangard Omsk would like it to be a revolution of their KHL season so far.

The starting goaltenders are Atte Engren for Lev, making his sixth start of the season as workhorse Petri Vehanen gets a day off, and former NHL goalie Mathieu Garon for Avangard.

Over the past decade, Avangard Omsk has been one of Russia´s top hockey clubs, winning the Russian Superliga championship in 2004, and in the KHL finishing first overall in 2011 and losing in the Gagarin Cup Finals in 2012. This year, however, things have not gone well at all.

The team is currently 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 25 points -- 12 out of a playoff position. Their offence is ranked 19th out of 28 KHL teams and they´ve allowed more goals than any team in the league. The situation has been so bad that they fired head coach Petri Matikainen in the midst of a nine-game losing streak and replaced him with Miloš Říha, the Přerov, Czech Republic native who´s had a lengthy coaching career in his home country, so he will be a familiar face to fany fans at Tipsport Arena.

The goaltending position has been a revolving door in Omsk, with five different goalies already pressed into action. Ex-NHLer Mathieu Garon has been by far the most successful statistics-wise, but even he is only 2-7 with a 2.34 goals-against average and .898 save percentage in 11 games. He was in goal for Wednesday´s 3-1 loss in Riga, with the last goal being an empty-netter.

Up front, the team does have a fairly noteworthy forward line consisting of Alexander Popov, Sergei Kostitsyn and Alexander Perezhogin, who lead the team with 18, 16 and 16 points, respectively. Other familiar names up front are Alexander Frolov, who has 11 points, and Oleg Kvasha, who leads the team with 54 penalty minutes. The scoring leader on defence is Alexander Kulyash with 10 points, and has 47 penalty minutes of his own.

Avangard and Lev met twice last year. The first encounter was on September 24 when locked out NHLers Jakub Voráček and Jiří Hudler made their Lev debuts and Voráček made a great play to assist on Jiří Novotný´s winning goal in a 3-1 final. When the teams met in Omsk on January 19, Avangard returned the favour with a 4-0 home-ice win. Karri Rämö stopped all 39 Lev shots for the shutout.

Lev heads into the encounter with Avangard on a three-game winning streak, including the first two games on this home stand. The winning goals in each of the past two games have come from slap shots from the point on the power play -- Martin Ševc in overtime against Avtomobilist and then Nathan Oystrick with two minutes left against Yugra on Friday. Lev fans all hope this recent success means the team´s power play woes are finished.

"The coach has implemented a couple of new power plays for us and we have three lines that can go out at any time and score a goal for us," said Oystrick after Friday´s game. "All the defencemen that are in the lineup can all play on the power play and can all shoot the puck, so the coach wants us to get guys in front of the goalie and obstruct his view."

Of course, just because things seem to be going well for Lev right now and sot so well for Avangard, don´t think the Lions are about to take Sunday´s opponent lightly.

"They haven´t played that great recently, but they´re still good enough to give us plenty of trouble," said Jiří Sekáč, who also scored on Friday. "Of course, for the game on Sunday we have to prepare as we would for any other game if we want to beat them."

Welcome. This game starts at 17:00 CET local time in Prague, 01:00 OMST early Monday in Omsk, 11:00 EST.