CSKA vs SKA. Who will be stronger in the army derby?

The next game week of the KHL regular championship will begin with a confrontation between two army teams - the capital's CSKA and St. Petersburg's SKA. The game will take place on October 3 in Moscow, on the ice of the CSKA Arena.

Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on CSKA vs SKA

CSKA

The army club continues to be in a fever at the start of the season. After last year's triumph, when CSKA, with debutant coach Sergei Fedorov, managed to win the Gagarin Cup, the army team still cannot catch the winning rhythm. Suddenly, the usually reliable defense fell down, where the loss of the main goalkeeper Ivan Fedorov affects. Neither Adam Reideborn nor Alexander Sharychenkov can yet fully replace the first number of the national team. On average, the army team misses around three goals per match, which is absolutely uncharacteristic for CSKA in recent years.

In the last ten days alone, the army team lost three times, and to rivals who, with all due respect, can hardly be called the giants of the KHL. Two away defeats 1-2 against Kunlun and 1-3 against Dynamo Minsk, and like a cherry on the cake, a home fiasco in the game against Novosibirsk Siberia, where the attack again scored only one goal. All this led to the fact that the capital club dropped to an unusual eighth place in the West, with 13 points scored, balancing on the border of the cup eight. Already, the backlog from the leader of the conference is 10 points, which is quite a lot, taking into account one month of the regular season.

SKA

In contrast to the capital club - St. Petersburg SKA, which just leads the standings not only in the Western Conference, but in the entire KHL championship. Leadership is unconditional - the army team is four points ahead of Avtomobilist, the leader in the East, and five points ahead of Dynamo Moscow, which is second in the West. By the way, it was the blue-and-whites that inflicted the only defeat on SKA in the opening 12 games, having turned out to be more successful in the shootout series. Characteristically, the St. Petersburg team plays equally well both at home and away, which once again speaks of the high class of the team.

If you pay attention to individual persons, then it is worth noting the team's newcomers who came to SKA during the summer off-season. The leader of the defense was the former defender of Spartak Alexander Nikishin, who already has 9 points (2 + 7) for performance. Damir Zhafyarov from the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo and Marat Khairullin, who came from Neftekhimik, are on fire in the attack. It is Khairullin who is now the club's top scorer, scoring 14 points (7+7) for performance so far.

CSKA vs SKA

Statistics

It is not the first season that fate brings two army teams to the playoffs of the Gagarin Cup. Last season was no exception, when CSKA and SKA met at the semi-final stage. The Petersburgers were one step away from reaching the final, they led the series with a score of 3-2, but two defeats in a row 1-3 and 0-3 allowed the capital club to go further. In total, the rivals have already met 97 times in the KHL. In terms of victories, the advantage is on the side of SKA hockey players, who have won 50 victories. The track record of CSKA is somewhat more modest - 47 victories.

Odds from download 1xbet

For the first time in a long time in the battle of two army giants, the bookmaker gives preference to the St. Petersburg club, putting the following quotes on the outcome of the match: CSKA win - 2.76, draw - 3.5, SKA win - 2.42. As for the expected performance, there is no obvious bias in either direction. The base total for the KHL 4.5 is presented with fairly close quotes: Total over (4.5) – 1.94, Total under (4.5) – 1.86. Install the 1xbet app and place a bet on the favorite!

Game Totals Prediction

The teams approach the first army derby of the season in a diametrically opposite game form. CSKA is going through a post-championship crisis and so far doesn't even come close to being like last season, while SKA is the best in terms of play at the start of the championship, steadily gaining points. Motivation should not be discounted, for SKA hockey players it is important to rehabilitate for last year's failure in the Cup semi-finals, and the upcoming game gives a great opportunity for this. Our prediction is for SKA to win with odds of 2.42.

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