Ak Bars - CSKA. Betting Tip (cf. 1.95) and bets on the KHL match

Current form

Ak Bars is trying its best to keep the second place in the East, but the club from Kazan is unlikely to succeed. Anvar Gatiyatullin's team has scored 40 points in 31 games and is only one point ahead of Avangard, but Omsk has two meetings in reserve. In October, the team from the Republic of Tatarstan demonstrated a very strong level of hockey, but it was expected to slow down in the new month. The Leopards won only four matches in November and in the last away series of games they started with victories over Neftekhimik (3:2) and Shanghai Dragons (3:2, B), however they could not cope with Spartak's defense in Moscow (0:1).

The meeting against the red-whites was under the full control of the then guests, and in the two opening periods Ak Bars transferred Alexey Zhamnov's team. Ak Bars could not find the keys to the opponent's goal and began to withdraw in the third 20 minutes. For this, the Greens were punished quickly enough, and in the end they failed to score even one goal in the capital.

Defender Mitch Miller remains the team's top scorer. The American scored 23 points (10+13) in the goal+pass system.

Disqualifications and injuries

Albert Yarullin will not play against SKA.

Interesting betting trends

• Ak Bars throws 33 times per game on average
• The hosts perform 20 power moves per meeting

Current form

SKA has been trying to return to the top eight in the West for a long time, and only now have the guests really managed to gain a foothold in the playoff zone. The Army team is on the eighth line in the conference with 32 points after 28 starts. The red and blue can rise even higher, because they are only one point behind the Shanghai Dragons and Spartak, while the competitors played two and one more matches, respectively. In November, the team led by Igor Larionov improved significantly in terms of the quality of the game and now the St. Petersburg team has six wins in seven matches. On November 16, the St. Petersburg club proved stronger than Metallurg (4:3) on its own ice, and then it was stronger than CSKA (4:1) and Severstal (6:4) on the road.

The match in Cherepovets started with a missed goal by the guests in the first minute of regular time, but SKA was able to take the lead before the first break. Matvey Polyakov and Valentin Zykov scored against Severstal in the opening period, but at the beginning of the second 20 minutes, the steelworkers regained equality on the scoreboard. Brendan Leipsic and Joseph Blandisi helped their partners to get ahead again, but the opponent made the score 4-4, scoring twice in a minute. Brendan Leipsic and Valentin Zykov scored their second goals in the final stretch of the match, and Artemy Pleshkov played well at the last line of defense.

Marat Khairullin remains SKA's top scorer. The forward scored 22 goals (5+17).

Disqualifications and injuries

Nikita Zaitsev and Matvey Korotky will not come with the team to Kazan.

Interesting betting trends

• SKA is blocking 15 shots this season.
• The Army team wins 49.1% of face-offs in the regular season