SKA – Lokomotiv on February 28: history of meetings and forecast for the KHL match

SKA St. Petersburg will host Lokomotiv Yaroslavl on February 28 in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) regular season match. The meeting will be held at the St. Petersburg Ice Palace and may become a rehearsal for a possible Gagarin Cup series. The pre—match layouts, the history of the confrontation and the forecast for the outcome of the meeting are in the Izvestia material.

Where to watch and at what time the SKA – Lokomotiv match starts on February 28

The match starts at 17:00 Moscow time. The broadcast will be available on the official KHL platforms and on specialized TV channels.

The history of team meetings and the results of previous games

SKA is currently in sixth place in the Western Conference with 69 points. The team has already secured its participation in the playoffs after defeating Vladivostok Admiral (4:2), while the struggle for a more profitable seeding continues.

Lokomotiv leads the Western Conference with 85 points. Yaroslavl secured a place in the Gagarin Cup ahead of schedule and are fighting to retain first place at the finish of the regular season.

In the 2025/26 season, Lokomotiv won four out of five head-to-head matches against SKA. The last meeting on January 27 ended with a 3-1 victory for Yaroslavl.

In face-to-face confrontations, the Yaroslavl team more often imposes dense, structured hockey on the opponent and tries to control the pace. For SKA, this is one of the most uncomfortable opponents in the conference.

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According to the KHL website, the teams have played 79 matches in the history of the match. SKA scored 35 wins in regular time, Lokomotiv — 30. In overtime, the opponents won six times, in the shootout — one each. The goal difference is 189:159 in favor of the Petersburgers.

In the previous round, SKA played a tough match against CSKA. SKA defender Pavel Koledov left the ice on a stretcher after an episode on the board: CSKA forward Pavel Karnaukhov hit him with a stick in the back area. The degree of the player's readiness for the upcoming meeting remains in question. SKA head coach Igor Larionov missed the game because he went to Milan for the final of the Olympic hockey tournament.

Lokomotiv is approaching the match after a 3-1 victory over Dynamo Moscow on February 24. Bob Hartley's team maintains a balance between defensive discipline and effective execution of chances.

In February, Lokomotiv scored seven victories with one defeat — against Dinamo Minsk. In the same period, SKA won seven matches and lost twice to CSKA (3:2 in shootouts) and Severstal (2:3 in shootouts). At the same time, the Yaroslavl "armored train" looks more stable precisely in games against opponents from the top of the table.

Forecast for the SKA – Lokomotiv match on February 28

From the point of view of the structure of the game and the statistics of personal meetings, Lokomotiv looks like a slight favorite. But the home court factor and SKA's tournament motivation make the match potentially even. If the Petersburgers manage to play with discipline and avoid failures in the middle zone, the meeting can be held in the "before the first mistake" format.

Lineups of teams

SKA

Forwards: Joseph Blandisi, Mikhail Vorobyov, Nikolai Goldobin, Rocco Grimaldi, Valentin Zykov, Brendan Laipsik, Sergey Platnikov, Scott Wilson, Marat Khairullin.

Defenders: Danila Galenyuk, Pavel Koledov, Brennan Menell, Andrey Pedan, Egor Savikov, Sergey Sapego, Marcus Phillips.

The goalkeeper is Bogdan Belousov.

"Locomotive"

Forwards: Alexander Radulov, Egor Surin, Maxim Shalunov, Artur Kayumov, Georgy Ivanov, Maxim Berezkin, Richard Panik, Nikita Kiryanov, Byron Fraz, Artyom Kuzin, Pavel Kraskovsky, Alexander Volkov, Alexander Polunin, Ilya Nikolaev, Denis Alekseev, Stepan Nikulin.

Defenders: Andrey Sergeev, Rushan Rafikov, Daniil Misyul, Alexander Yelesin, Nikita Cherepanov, Alexey Bereglazov, Mark Ulyev, Martin Gernat, Ilyas Magomedsultanov.

Goalkeepers: Alexey Melnichuk, Daniil Isaev, Daniil Tetyushkin.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.