CHELYABINSK (Interstat) — Ak Bars will visit Traktor in a Kontinental Hockey League game on Friday at Traktor Sport Palace in Traktor Arena, Chelyabinsk. Ak Bars enters with an 11-13 record, while Traktor is 9-13. Traktor will be the home team.

Ak Bars will look to bounce back after a 3-1 loss at Sibir Novosibirsk in its most recent game. Grigory Denisenko scored in that defeat and finished with four shots on goal and one hit. Denisenko also had an assist and six shots on goal against SKA Saint Petersburg, a goal and three hits against Amur Khabarovsk, and two hits in the most recent meeting at Traktor. Kirill Semyonov added an assist and two shots in the latest Ak Bars game, while Nikita Lyamkin recorded six shots. Ak Bars has recent wins over Amur, Salavat Yulaev, Dinamo Minsk and Shanghai, along with losses to SKA Saint Petersburg, Avangard Omsk, Traktor, Torpedo, Sochi and Severstal. Denisenko also recorded five shots on goal and two hits against Avangard Omsk, one shot and two penalty minutes at Salavat Yulaev, and an assist with one shot and one hit against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. He added an assist, one shot and one hit at Dinamo Minsk, four shots and one hit at Shanghai, and an assist with two shots, four penalty minutes and three hits against Sochi.

Traktor enters after a 2-1 home win over Barys Astana. Dmitry Nikolayev made 25 saves on 26 shots in that victory. Nikolayev also stopped 26 of 29 shots at Dinamo Minsk, made 21 saves on 22 shots against Sibir Novosibirsk, stopped 30 of 31 shots at Avangard Omsk, and made 38 saves on 40 shots at Shanghai Dragons. Andrei Svetlakov scored and had six shots against Barys, and Nathan Legare also scored. Traktor has recent wins over Barys, Sibir, Ak Bars and Shanghai, along with losses to CSKA, Dinamo Minsk, Avangard, Neftekhimik, Sibir and Amur.

Traktor has won two of the three meetings this season, including a 3-1 home win in the most recent matchup. Ak Bars took the first meeting 2-1. The teams will meet again later in the schedule, but the game on Friday is the fourth head-to-head matchup of the season.

After Friday, Ak Bars will face Torpedo at home, then travel to Salavat Yulaev and Avtomobilist before hosting Dynamo and Spartak. Traktor will host Avtomobilist and Shanghai before road games at Severstal and SKA.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a final score of Traktor 2, Ak Bars 1. The over/under for the game is 4.5.