Ak Bars vs. Traktor. KHL match prediction and bets

Current form

Kazan is striving for leadership in the conference and currently occupies the third line in the East, having 48 points after 36 matches. The club from the Republic of Tatarstan scored before the international break, but after it unexpectedly lost twice to Minsk Dynamo (1:3 and 1:5). In addition, Anvar Gatiyatullin charges beat Salavat Yulaev (3:2) at home with some difficulty and won a magnificent comeback victory over Dynamo from Moscow. Before returning home, Ak Bars was routed on the ice of Minsk Arena. The Bars played terribly in defense and scored the only goal only in the 53rd minute of the match, when they were losing with a score of 0:5.

The "cats" attack stopped using their chances consistently and in two out of three matches failed to score more than once. Aleksandr Barabanov once again broke into the hosts' lead in terms of scoring points (13+18). He overtook Artem Galimov, who until recently held the status of the Kazan team best scorer (15+15).

Amir Miftakhov has only recently recovered from his injury and managed to play six games in December. Miftakhov remains one of the most reliable goalies in the league and has a 95% save percentage. The club second goalie Timur Bilyalov has performed extremely poorly in recent games and was perhaps the main culprit of the Kazan team failures.

Disqualifications and injuries

Egor Babenko will not be able to play in the upcoming match due to injury.

Interesting trends for betting

• Ak Bars gets 6.83 minutes of penalty time

Kazan players are usually sent off at least three times per match

• Ak Bars has 42:28 in goals scored and conceded in the third period

Kazan players play powerfully in the final twenty minutes and often score goals in it

Current form

Traktor was the sole leader of the conference not long ago, but now the Bears are very close to dropping even to third place in the East. Vladimir Tkachev team has scored 52 points in 39 starts and played two matches more than Salavat Yulaev, which has an identical number of points. The Black and Whites immediately lost to Dynamo Minsk (1:3) after the break, but were twice stronger than Barys Astana (3:2 and 5:3). It seemed that Benoit Groulx charges would now give a series of victories, but they could not cope with Avtomobilist defense (1:3) and suffered their third defeat to the Machinists this season. The visitors conceded in the last minute of regulation time and were left without important points.

Traktor attacking line hockey players have stopped pleasing their fans with stable offensive play. In the five previous games, the Chelyabinsk team made only 11 accurate shots, while Maxim Shabanov was still very good. The young forward has already scored 37 points (16+21) this season and is second on the list of the league top scorers.

Zach Fucale has long been one of the league most reliable goalies. He hasn't been as consistent as he used to be, dropping his save percentage to .9261. At the same time, the Canadian has posted five shutouts, starting 27 games.

Disqualifications and injuries

All visiting leaders will arrive in Kazan on Saturday.

Interesting trends for betting

• Traktor has a 37:30 ratio of goals scored and goals conceded in the second period

The Chelyabinsk team plays powerfully in the second twenty minutes and often scores goals in it.

• Traktor averages 33 shots on target

The team is one of the most "shooting" in the league at the moment