Welcome. This game starts at 19:00 CET local time in Prague, 13:00 EST, 05:00 VLAT Saturday morning in Khabarovsk.

Lev Praha visited Russia´s Pacific coast on a road trip in late September and early October and finished the arduous trip in Khabarovsk on October 3. Khabarovsk won the game 3-0, though it was essentially a 1-0 goaltending duel between Alexei Murygin and Petri Vehanen with two empty-net goals. All of Amur´s scoring was done by Czechs Jakub Petružálek and Jan Muršak, with 2 points each.

At the time, Amur had the worst record in the KHL and it was only their second regulation win in their 11th game of the season. Things haven´t gotten a whole lot better since then, as they are 13th of 14 Eastern Conference teams with 42 points. They enter Friday´s game having lost five in a row, most recently 3-2 in Bratislava on Wednesday.

With 147 goals against, they have the worst defence in the KHL. The shutout against Lev is Murygin´s only one of the season so far, while Finn Mika Jarvinen also has one. The two have split goaltending duties rather evenly.

Muršak and Petružálek continue to be the offensive sparkplugs for Amur, leading the team with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Alexander Yunkov rounds out the top line with 19 points. On defence, veteran Vladimir Loginov leads with 12 points. With namesake Alexander Loginov recently traded to Ufa, next on the list are American Dylan Reese and Russian Denis Yezhov with 7 each.

For Lev, the game was the beginning of a sub-par month of October, but they´ve turned things around in a big way and enter Friday´s game with eight wins in their past nine games. They are currently 3rd place in the Western Conference with 80 points, but four teams are within five points of them.

"(Positioning in the conference) is very important to us. Our goal from the beginning was to be in the top four," says Michal Řepík, who scored his 8th goal of the season in Wednesday´s 4-1 win over Admiral Vladivostok. "But it´s still so close. Only a few points separate a bunch of teams. I think it´ll come down to the very end, and we expect a very difficult road ahead of us."

Řepík was re-united with familiar linemates Petr Vrána and Michal Birner and they showed some of the chemistry that made them the team´s best down the stretch last season. Also clicking in the game was the line of Justin Azevedo, Jiří Novotný and David Ullström, which accounted for two of the goals.

Starting Lineups:

Lev Praha: Engren (Vehanen) – Ševc, Jaakola, Gragnani, Němec, Mäenpää, O'Byrne – Azevedo, Novotný, Ullström – Tatíček, Zackrisson, Thörnberg – Ridderwall, Vrána, Řepík – Pacovský, Kapanen, Matai – Cingel

Amur Khabarovsk: Järvinen (Murygin) – A Loginov, Bykov, Sedunov, V Loginov, Reese, Taryaev, Yezhov, Teslenko- Stěpanov, Tarasov, Shishkanov – Lugin, Fisenko, Yunkov – Krikunov, Dubinin, Klimchuk – Katsuba, Smurov, Kopienko

Referees: Gusev, Safiullov – Balodis, Menshikh.

The national anthems of the Russian Federation and the 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. Amur Khabarovsk is wearing their road white uniorms with blue trim, blue pants and white helmets.

Patrik Zackrisson with the game's first shot on goal, goes off Jarvinen's shoulder and out of play. Faceoff in the Amur zone.

Maenpaa with a wrister from the point, hits Jarvinen and he covers.

Offside Lev.

Offside Amur.

Now a Lev shoot-in from the neutral zone goes right on Jarvinen and he holds on again.

Offside Amur.

Puck out of play in the neutral zone, faceoff outside the Amur blueline.

Alexander Yunkov flips the puck from the boards and Atte Engren catches it and holds for a faceoff. I'm not sure if it was headed on net, which would make it Amur's first shot on goal of the game.

Engren scoops up an Amur shoot-in and holds it again for a faceoff.

Shot by Pacovsky right on Jarvinen, then he stops the rebound too and covers.

Puck goes into the Amur bench, faceoff upcoming in their zone.

Shot by Sevc right off the draw, right on Jarvinen, who covers again.

Repik circles the net and fires from a sharp angle, stick save Jarvinen.

Kapanen with a quick low shot from the right wing, Jarvinen stretches and gets his left pad on it, then covers.

Puck deflected out of play in the Lev zone, faceoff inside with :44 left in the coincidental minors.

Offside Amur, :18 left in the coincidental minors.

Matai and Taryaev out of the box, teams skating 5-on-5.

Dominik Pacovsky shoots from almost the corner, Jarvinen stops it with the stick and covers.

Gragnani from the half-boards, save Amur, then Amur ices the puck and play is stopped.

Icing Amur.

Lev drive to the net again, Jarvinen covers with Ridderwall on the doorstep and we get some rough stuff after the whistle, but nothing comes of it. Faceoff in the Amur zone.

Icing Amur.

Pacovsky with the submarine hit on Fisenko near the boards at centre ice, he didn't like it.

Right after that, intentional offside against Lev, faceoff goes back deep in their zone.

Azevedo shoots, pad save Jarvinen, back to the point to Sevc for another shot and another pad save by Mika Jarvinen.

Lev rush, shot by Vrana, pad save Jarvinen, rebound cleared and Amur start back.

Lugin shoots from the right wing boards, kicked out by Engren right to Smurov, and he stops that one too.

Amur back at full strength and they'll have a brief power play.

Lev back at full strength, play in the Amur zone.

Ridderwall attempts a wraparound but defenceman Bykov gets his stick in the way to prevent him from finishing. Jarvinen was in position anyway.

Repik with the high wrister, blocker save Jarvinen.

Ullstrom tries to centre for Novotny, one-timed just wide.

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

Mikhail Fisenko, left-handed shot streaking down the right wing, pad save Engren on a tricky shot.

Now Thornberg at the other end, right on Jarvinen.

Pacovsky tries to cut out of the corner and to the front of the net but is taken down and doesn't get a shot away.

Finally the puck goes out of play in the Amur zone, faceoff outside.

Novotny wins the draw, then takes a return pass and shoots, caught and held by Jarvinen. Faceoff inside this time.

Offside Lev.

One-time slapper from Maenpaa, off Jarvinen's blocker and out of play.

Nemec down below the Amur net, tries to come out front and shoot but it's deflected out of play, another faceoff inside.

Puck goes into the Lev bench, faceoff at the Amur blueline right in front.

Matai backhands it just wide.

Puck into the Lev zone, Tarasov centres for Lugin, who fans on the shot from the slot.

Thornberg tries to centre from the corner but it goes right to Jarvinen, who covers.

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

Ridderwall tries to generate something down low, he gets a weak shot from a weak angle and Jarvinen freezes it again.

Dmitri Bykov with a slapper from the point, pad save Engren.

Puck goes to Engren and he covers.

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

Shot deflected out of play in the Amur zone, faceoff inside.

Puck deflected out of play in the neutral zone, faceoff at centre ice.

Offside Lev.

Puck out of play in the Amur zone, faceoff inside with 1:14 left in the penalty.

Lev going to work in the Amur zone with the man advantage and lots of open space, Jarvinen covers the puck with :48 left in the Lev penalty, after which it will be 5-on-3.

After all that we're back playing 5 a side as both teams are at full strength.

Taticek with the wrister from the left wing, right on Jarvinen, who holds on.

Amur 3 on 2 rush but Petr Taticek hustles back and makes a nice defensive play to break it up. He's had quite a game.

Intentional offside against, Lev, faceoff in their own end, 4-on-4 for another :52.