SKA St. Petersburg's record against Dynamo Moscow this season gives the northern team great confidence going into their KHL Western Conference playoff final, forward Viktor Tikhonov told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
SKA and Dynamo were 2-2 in regular-season play but SKA's wins were more emphatic than the Muscovites, 5-1 and 4-1 compared with Dynamo's 2-1 and 4-3 victories.
“It’s good that we got Dynamo. I’m very happy,” said Tikhonov, an ex-Phoenix Coyotes forward. “I think that Dynamo’s a favorable team for us. Everything is positive now. ... I really wanted to meet Dynamo because we played well against them in the season and feel confident against them."
SKA qualified for the conference final with a 4-2 series win over Atlant Moscow Region on Friday, while Dynamo won its series against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod by the same scoreline on the same evening.
Tikhonov remains under contract to the Phoenix Coyotes, where he played in the 2008-09 season, notching up eight goals and eight assists in 61 games.
This season, he has scored 19 goals and recorded 15 assists in 48 regular season and playoff appearances for SKA.
On Saturday, regular season champion Traktor Chelyabinsk can book its place in the Eastern Conference final by beating Ak Bars Kazan at home.
Avangard Omsk awaits the winners of that series, after it sealed a 4-1 series win over Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Thursday.
