The match between the two teams will start at 18.30 Latvian time and will be broadcast live by the channel “TV3 Sport”.
“Dinamo” this will be the third of four away games. In the previous two, they suffered losses against Kaspars Daugaviņš from the Moscow region “Vitjaz” (1: 6) and against the other weakest club of the Western Conference “Sochi” (2: 4).
Last Thursday, the Rigans returned to the ranks with big gaps due to the Covid-19 epidemic, filling the gaps with the hockey players of the Youth Hockey League (MHL), and after the post-match litters, they beat the Minsk “Dinamo” with six wins in Riga.
Even before that, in two matches – against the Moscow teams “Dinamo” and CSKA – the Rigans were sentenced to technical losses for not being able to leave the field due to Covid-19 illness, while in quarantine for almost two weeks.
The team still can’t be helped by 11 players, four of whom are “legionnaires” from Canada and one from Russia, such team symbols as Gints Meija, Mikēlis Rēdlihs, Kristaps Sotnieks, as well as Kristaps Zīle.
Meanwhile, Jokerit has undergone a 14-day quarantine since mid-September and has since played six games, celebrating four victories. The Helsinki unit has a series of three victories, which started against Cherepovets’ “Severstal” (5: 2), but later defeated Yaroslavl ‘s “Lokomotiv” 3: 2, but Oleg Znarok and Harry Vītolins’ Moscow “Spartak” capitulated with a devastating 1: 7.
The two teams previously met at the very beginning of the season, when “Jokerit” in Riga was superior with 3: 1. In the KHL championship, the two teams have met 24 times, only seven of which have been celebrated by “Dinamo”.
Last season, the Jokerit team was superior in both fights.
After visiting Helsinki, “Dinamo” will go to Belarus, where he will meet with Minsk “Dinamo”, and then a series of three home games will follow.
Dynamo, with five points in ten games, ranks last among 11 Western Conference teams, surpassing only Beijing’s Red Star in the league, while Jokerit is sixth in 13 duels.
Initially, the Riga team was quarantined until October 5, but on Tuesday the government decided to reduce the duration of home quarantine for Covid-19 patients from 14 to ten days, if not earlier than the tenth day after contact with the source of infection is negative, thus giving “Dinamo” healthy players a chance to return to the field faster.
Nine hockey players and two staff members were previously reported to be infected with Covid-19 Dinamo.
Last season, “Dinamo” took the penultimate place in the Western Conference and in the entire league, not qualifying for the Gagarin Cup for the sixth year in a row.
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