Neftekhimik vs Traktor. Who will be stronger in the Eastern Conference outsider dispute?
The battle of the outsiders of the Eastern Conference will be held on September 23 in Nizhnekamsk. The local Neftekhimik will receive guests from Chelyabinsk - Traktor hockey club.
Last season as a whole can be considered successful for Neftekhimik. The team played fairly smoothly in the regular part of the championship, eventually finishing in seventh place. No miracle happened in the playoffs, already in the first round Neftekhimik lost to Traktor in four matches. During the summer off-season, the club lost three leaders, on which the game of Nizhnekamsk was built. The leading pair of defenders Klok and Knot went overseas in search of happiness, signing a contract with the NHL club Arizona. There were losses in the attacking line, which was left by the local pupil Marat Khairullin, who is now scoring for SKA St. Petersburg.
As the starting month of the championship showed, Neftekhimik's coaching staff failed to fully compensate for the loss of leaders. First of all, this affected the defense, 34 goals conceded is the absolutely worst indicator in the League. The maximum that Oleg Leontiev's wards could achieve in the starting eight matches was to catch one point in the game against CSKA, which in the end Neftekhimik still lost in overtime. At the moment, Neftekhimik is the worst club in the KHL in terms of points scored, with one point behind even HC Sochi.
Traktor
If the failure of Neftekhimik at the start of the season was not a big surprise, then the September performance of Traktor is one of the biggest disappointments of the championship so far. The dependence on the five legionnaires turned out to be so great that even with a good squad by the standards of the KHL and Gatiyatulin on the coaching bench, the Chelyabinsk club continues to have a serious fever. The goalkeeper team failed, where none of the three domestic goalkeepers ever became a full-fledged number one. Canadian goalkeeper Andrew Hammond, who played in the NHL for such clubs as New Jersey, Montreal, Colorado, Ottawa, was urgently signed.
At the moment, the Chelyabinsk club has only three victories in eight matches played, and Traktor won two of them only in overtime. With six points scored, Anvar Gatiyatulin's wards are still outside the cup eight, occupying only ninth place.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Neftekhimik vs Traktor
NeftekhimikLast season as a whole can be considered successful for Neftekhimik. The team played fairly smoothly in the regular part of the championship, eventually finishing in seventh place. No miracle happened in the playoffs, already in the first round Neftekhimik lost to Traktor in four matches. During the summer off-season, the club lost three leaders, on which the game of Nizhnekamsk was built. The leading pair of defenders Klok and Knot went overseas in search of happiness, signing a contract with the NHL club Arizona. There were losses in the attacking line, which was left by the local pupil Marat Khairullin, who is now scoring for SKA St. Petersburg.
As the starting month of the championship showed, Neftekhimik's coaching staff failed to fully compensate for the loss of leaders. First of all, this affected the defense, 34 goals conceded is the absolutely worst indicator in the League. The maximum that Oleg Leontiev's wards could achieve in the starting eight matches was to catch one point in the game against CSKA, which in the end Neftekhimik still lost in overtime. At the moment, Neftekhimik is the worst club in the KHL in terms of points scored, with one point behind even HC Sochi.
Traktor
If the failure of Neftekhimik at the start of the season was not a big surprise, then the September performance of Traktor is one of the biggest disappointments of the championship so far. The dependence on the five legionnaires turned out to be so great that even with a good squad by the standards of the KHL and Gatiyatulin on the coaching bench, the Chelyabinsk club continues to have a serious fever. The goalkeeper team failed, where none of the three domestic goalkeepers ever became a full-fledged number one. Canadian goalkeeper Andrew Hammond, who played in the NHL for such clubs as New Jersey, Montreal, Colorado, Ottawa, was urgently signed.
At the moment, the Chelyabinsk club has only three victories in eight matches played, and Traktor won two of them only in overtime. With six points scored, Anvar Gatiyatulin's wards are still outside the cup eight, occupying only ninth place.
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