KAZAN (Interstat) — Ak Bars Kazan will host Traktor Chelyabinsk on Friday in a Kontinental Hockey League game at TatNeft Arena. Ak Bars enters with a 7-4 record, while Traktor is 4-5.

Timur Bilyalov is the player to watch for Ak Bars. He made 30 saves on 31 shots in a win over Barys Astana. He stopped 32 of 34 shots at Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 32 of 34 at Sibir Novosibirsk, 29 of 31 against Lada Togliatti, 28 of 31 at HC Sochi, 27 of 30 at Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, 27 of 29 against Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 30 of 31 against Traktor Chelyabinsk, and 15 of 15 against Admiral Vladivostok.

Ak Bars is coming off a 4-1 home win over Barys Astana. In that game, Bilyalov made 30 saves, Kirill Semyonov scored, and Dmitry Katelevsky scored. Ak Bars also has wins over Sibir Novosibirsk, Lada Togliatti, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Traktor Chelyabinsk, Admiral Vladivostok and Sibir Novosibirsk. Its losses have come against Metallurg Magnitogorsk twice, HC Sochi and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Other Ak Bars results include a 2-1 loss at Metallurg Magnitogorsk, a 3-2 shootout win at Sibir Novosibirsk, a 3-2 overtime win over Lada Togliatti, a 3-2 loss at HC Sochi, a 4-3 overtime win at Salavat Yulaev Ufa, a 3-2 loss at Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, a 3-2 shootout loss to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, a 2-1 win over Traktor Chelyabinsk, a 2-0 win over Admiral Vladivostok and a 4-3 shootout win over Sibir Novosibirsk.

Henrik Haukeland is the player to watch for Traktor. He made 35 saves on 37 shots in a 4-2 win at Spartak Moscow. He stopped 28 of 29 shots at Dynamo Moscow, 21 of 22 against Avangard Omsk, 30 of 32 against Spartak Moscow, 17 of 19 at Ak Bars Kazan, and 28 of 33 at Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Traktor is coming off a 4-2 win at Spartak Moscow. Haukeland made 35 saves in that game, Andrei Svetlakov had two assists, and Grigory Dronov also had two assists. Its losses include games against SKA Saint Petersburg, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Ak Bars Kazan and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl again. Other Traktor results include a 2-1 overtime win at Dynamo Moscow, a 3-1 loss to Spartak Moscow, a 4-1 loss to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and a 4-3 overtime win at Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

The teams met earlier this season, and Ak Bars earned a 2-1 home win over Traktor. Bilyalov made 30 saves in that game. Haukeland made 17 saves. Ak Bars will host Lokomotiv Yaroslavl next. Traktor will host Amur Khabarovsk next.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a final score of Ak Bars 3, Traktor 1.