Two Breeds Of Leopard, One Stampede Of Bison

12 November 2024

The coming week’s games are something of a mixed bag. There’s a tough trip to in-form Ak Bars on Wednesday, then a basement battle beside the Black Sea on Friday. It’s back home on Sunday afternoon to take on Dinamo Minsk and the KHL’s all-time top scorer – but also to test ourselves against another unpredictable opponent in the race for a playoff spot.

Ak Bars (a), Nov. 13, 1930 Moscow Time

Last season: After an early 1-5 loss in Kazan, Red Star retaliated in November with victory on home ice. Jeremy Smith made 29 saves to blank Ak Bars, as Brandon McMillan potted the only goal of the game.

Familiar faces: None

Setting the scene: This season represents a new era for Ak Bars. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, coaching legend and local hero, stepped down at the end of last season and – unlike his previous absences from behind the bench, this time it looks like he’s finally retired. Which brought Anvar Gatiyatulin to the club. The former Traktor head coach faces an unenviable task: many clubs, in many sports, have struggled following the departure of a long-serving and triumphant figure from the helm. A 3-5 loss to Salavat Yulaev in his first game did not bode well, and there were question marks after a run of four losses in five games early in October.

Since then, though, the team has been in powerful form. In the last eight games, the Snow Leopards suffered just two losses, both against runaway leader Lokomotiv and one of those in a shoot-out. That’s lifted the team to third in the East, while the attacking partnership of captain Dmitrij Jaskin and summer signing Alexander Barabanov is blossoming into a potent weapon. This promises to be a testing examination for the Dragons, who will need to channel all of the excellence shown in our recent wins over SKA to bring anything back from Tatarstan.

HC Sochi (a), Nov. 15, 1930 Moscow Time

Last time out: The first of our six meetings with Sochi this season did not go well. After a 0-4 loss on home ice, our guys will be looking for revenge from a trip to the Black Sea resort.

Familiar faces: Defenseman Yury Pautov began his KHL career at Sochi in 2014/15, and returned for a second spell in 2021/22.

Setting the scene: This is a basement battle in the Western Conference. Victory here in regulation would lift the Dragons off the foot of the table, but it’s hard to predict what kind of performance Sergei Zubov’s team will offer.

In…