Offside Lev.

Icing Lev.

Thornberg shoots from the right wing boards, hits Kasutin in the chest and then he covers it.

At the other end, Wolski tries to find Salminen with a pass but it slides off his stick right to Vehanen, who covers.

Kasutin catches a Lev shoot-in and hangs on.

Another icing call against Torpedo.

Icing Torpedo.

Puck deflects into the Lev bench, faceoff at centre ice.

Another offside call against Lev on a rush.

Offside Lev.

Vrana's shot from the top of the circle is right on Kasutin, who holds on just as the penalty ends.

Thornberg from the boards tries to find Zackrisson going to the net, just fails to connect.

Offside Lev with 1:12 left in the power play.

Azevedo a slapper from the top of the circle, right on Kasutin and then the zone is cleared.

Vrana passes to Zackrisson, shot blocked, then Jaakola from the point, rebound loose and finally Kasutin covers.

Ridderwall enters the Torpedo zone, his shot is wide, off the end boards and back in front, Kasutin covers. Ridderwall has Lev's lone goal and has been their most noticeable player.

Now Dvurechensky with a big hit on Azevedo, then Maenpaa leads a Lev rush into the zone, his shot goes off Kasutin's blocker and out of play.

Puck deflected out of play in the Torpedo zone, faceoff outside.

Offside Lev.

Big thundering check by Sevc on Dvurechensky into the boards.

Krasnoslobodtsev drives to the net from the boards with teh puck but a great sliding check to strip him of the puck.

Pressure from Torpedo, Lyaduchin's shot through traffic goes just wide, finally Petri Vehanen's mask comes off and play is stopped.

Offside Torpedo.

Lev work the puck around in the Torpedo zone, Gragnani feathers a nice pass toward the par post but nobody could get to it, then a shot from the other point and Kasutin stops and covers it.

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

Lyuduchin fires wide in the dying seconds of the power play.

Now the puck is deflected out of play in the Lev zone, the faceoff is again outside with just :19 left in the penalty.

Offside Torpedo with :48 left in the power play.

Lev trying to get some pressure going, shot from Zackrisson, pad save Kasutin.

There was a Torpedo rush, Vehanen stopped the shot by Wolski but Daniil Zharkov was involved in a collision as a player fell on top of him. He's down an injured, but is assisted to his feet and off.

Faceoff in the Torpedo zone, as that's where the puck was when the whistle finally went.

Now Yevgeni Skachkov again, carries the puck through the neutral zone and shoots from the off-wing, right on Vehanen, who covers.

Puck goes to the corner, shot from a tight angle by Skachkov, Vehanen gives no room on the short side, play continues.

Shot from the point by Martin Sevc, deflected wide, Kasutin might have got a piece of it.

Icing Lev.

Shot by Vrana hits Kasutin's shoulder and deflects out of play. Torpedo now at full strength.

Azevedo with the pass down low to Ullstrom, he tries to stuff it in the short side but Kasutin gives him no room. Then we get some pushing and shoving as Lev players dug for the puck, and we'll have penalties on the play.

Lev top power play unit gets possession in the zone, Maenpaa with the wrister from the point, right on Kasutin, who gives up no rebound. 1:12 left in the Lev power play.

Offside Torpedo with 1:43 left in the penalty.

Another Torpedo rush, Potapov's shot kicked out by Vehanen.

Lev now back at full strength, battle for the puck behind the Torpedo net.

Lev doing a good job on the PK, keeping the puck out of the zone.

Now Lev goes offside on the pass this time, faceoff at the blueline.

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

Calle Ridderwall enters the Torpedo zone and fires a long wrister, right on Ivan Kasutin, who holds on.

Both teams now at full strength, play in the Lev zone as a shot from the point is deflected wide.

Play now in the Torpedo zone, Vrana to Thornberg for a one-timer, kicked away by Kasutin.

Torpedo rush, Vladimir Galuzin carries it down the leftt wing and shoots from the top of the circle, caught and held by Engren.

Lukas Cingel tries to cut out of the corner with the puck, I don't think he managed to get a shot and the zone is cleared.

Puck slides to Atte Engren right off the draw and he covers for another faceoff.

We now get the game's first stoppage in play as the puck goes out. Faceoff in the Lev zone.

Each team has its first foray into the attacking zone and get shots on goal from long distance, both easy saves.

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

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod is wearing their home navy blue uniforms with white and red trim, navy 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:

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod: Kasutin (Děmidov) – Hietanen, Khomicky, Valentěnko, Bernacky, Grigoriev, Děnisov, Belokhvostikov – Wolski, Salminen, Immonen – Galuzin, Skachkov, Krasnoslobodtsev – M. Potapov, Kulyomin, Lyuduchin – Zharkov, Tverdokhlebov, Dvurechensky – Badyukov

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

Referees: Gofman, Kulakov – Otmakhov, Koposov.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod visited Prague way back on September 19 -- Lev´s second home game of the year. After two forgettable periods, where they were outshot 27-13 and outscored 3-1, the Lions roared to life in the third. They scored twice, outshot their guests 18-4 in the third period and overtime, and then won it in a shootout. Jakub Klepiš, Martin Ševc, and Torpedo´s Vadim Krasnoslobodtsev had two points each.

Now, four months and three days later, they meet again -- this time in the Russian city formerly known as Gorky.

Whether this game will be as exciting as the first remains to be seen, but it should be a good one, as both teams are going well. Lev is 3rd in the West with 86 points and are on a roll -- they´ve won six in a row and 10 of their last 11. They´ve also been absolute beasts on the road, losing only once since October. Torpedo is 5th in the East with 80 points and have also won six in a row -- they just finished sweeping a road trip that finished with two 5-4 extra-time wins in Cherepovets and St Petersburg. Torpedo have scored a few more goals than Lev, but Lev´s defence is a little stronger, so take your pick.

Torpedo have two dangerous forward lines, with a pair of Finns leading the charge. Sakari Salminen and Jarkko Immonen have 41 and 35 points respectively. Rounding out the top six forwards are Denis Parshin, former NHLer Wojtek Wolski, Vladimir Galuzin and Krasnoslobodtsev. A third Finn leads the attack from the back end -- Juuso Hietonen has 27 points from the blueline, including 6 power-play goals.

One thing not clear about Torpedo is who will start in goal. In their current six-game winning streak, three different goalies have posted wins, including Vitali Koval, Mikhail Demidov and Ivan Kasutin, who was recently acquired from Severstal. Their goalie with the best numbers, Georgy Gelashvili, is currently injured and out of the lineup, but they´ve managed without him. For Lev, the choice is between Petri Vehanen and Atte Engren, with Vehanen the probable starter.

Lev has had to manage in the wake of an injury to top players as well, Niko Kapanen missed the majority of the season with a lower-body injury but is now back playing, and now Klepiš is out. They´ve also got two strong lines going, however -- Justin Azevedo – Jiří Novotný -David Ullström and Patrik Zackrisson – Petr Vrána – Martin Thörnberg.

"You know, I can´t even give you a straight answer. Nothing special," was Azevedo´s answer when asked what had improved the fortunes of his trio. "Just putting the puck on net and driving hard to the net and not trying to complicate things."

"(The three of us) try to work very hard and create scoring chances and today I scored two, so we´re very happy," was Thörnberg´s answer after Sunday´s 3-1 win over Sibir. Looking ahead to the road trip, he added: "I think we did really well at home and now it´s going to get really tough on the road against Torpedo, Ak Bars and Dynamo Moscow."

Welcome. This gstarts at 19:00 MSK local time in Nizhny Novgorod, 16:00 CET in Prague, 10:00 EST.