With the KHL on break until the 13th and SKA not playing until the following day, this week is a perfect time to see where the team is at this point in the season. Currently, they lead the Western Conference by six points over rival Dynamo Moscow and hold an 11 point lead over Dinamo Riga in the Bobrov Division. Obviously, it begins in goal, where the trio of Alexander Salak, Ilya Ezhov, and Dmitry Shikin have each posted a GAA under 2.00. That's a good sign that SKA is comfortable playing anyone in goal, as each has shown confidence when given the call, particularly when Salak, the starter, needs a rest every now and then. Defensively, you would like to see more points from the blue line, but a large part of that group's issues lie in the fact that Kevin Dallman has missed considerable time to injury. However, the group as a whole has done well, and nowhere is that more evident than the +/- number of Maxim Chudinov, who ranks among the league leaders in that category (23). Roman Cervenka leads the team in scoring, with Ilya Kovalchuk just behind him, though he has played fewer games due to injury. Kovlachuk makes everything go on offense, but having a former league leader in scoring (Cervenka) and the team leader in goals (Viktor Tikhonov) makes this group very dangerous. Artemy Panarin has emerged recently as a solid secondary scoring threat while Patrick Thoresen has continued to score, though at lower levels because of the talent ahead of him. Alexander Kucheryavenko and Panarin lead the forwards in the +/- category. The special teams are doing well, as SKA ranks fourth on the power play and are sixth on the penalty kill.
SKA will come out of break on the 14th to play at Lokomotiv and will travel to Mytischi to play Atlant on the 16th before coming home for a match against Lokomotiv on the 18th.
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