SKA vs Vityaz. Will the St. Petersburg club continue its victorious march?

The sole leader of the regular season - SKA, on October 7 will play at home with the Vityaz near Moscow. The game will be held at the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg.

• Expert Predictions Analysis
• SKA vs Vityaz facts
• Odds
• Game Totals Prediction

Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on SKA vs Vityaz

SKA

St. Petersburg's army team give the perfect start to the season, churning out victory after victory. At the same time, it cannot be said that SKA surpasses its competitors in terms of names. The same Ak Bars or Metallurg on paper look much more representative, but are noticeably inferior to St. Petersburg in many game components. The army team has the best defense in the league, conceding less than two goals per game on average. Reliable play in defense does not come at the expense of attacking actions, in terms of goals scored, the army team is second in the League, with 50 goals yielding two goals Avtomobilist from Yekaterinburg. Marat Khairullin, the most productive member of SKA, moved to the St. Petersburg club in the summer from Neftekhimik. Khairullin has 16 points (9+7) and according to this indicator he is fourth in the League.

The army team suffered the only defeat of the season in a home match against Dynamo Moscow, losing to the blue and white in the post-match shootout. This did not affect the standings of Roman Rotenberg's wards, SKA confidently leads the KHL summary table, with 27 points scored five points ahead of the nearest pursuer.

Vityaz

If the successful start of the St. Petersburg club was largely expected, then Vityaz's performance in the first part of the championship was a pleasant discovery. Having lost during the summer off-season the entire brigade of legionnaires, on which the team played last season, Vityaz did not crumble, but due to internal reserves and targeted selection work, he was able to look decent at the start of the season. Once again, it is worth noting the successful choice of legionnaires. Now there are three foreigners in Vityaz's application and all three represent Canada. They are defender Jeremy Roy - 9 points for performance, forwards Tyler Graowac - 6 points, and Scott Wilson - 9 points. Separately, it is worth paying attention to the game of goalkeepers. Maxim Dorozhko, potentially the team's number two, is showing a great game, having the best reliability coefficient of all goalkeepers in the League.

As for Vityaz's standings in the standings, here at some point the Moscow Region team was even among the top three in the West, but then a series of unsuccessful matches somewhat spoiled Vityaz's position. Nevertheless, with 17 points scored, Vityaz is confidently going in the playoff zone, taking 6th place, and only one point separates Vyacheslav Butsaev's wards from the third line.

Statistics

Over the entire existence of the KHL, SKA hockey players have only lost twice at home to Vityaz, having won 16 home victories. Misfires occurred in the 2010/11 season (4-5 loss) and the 2019/20 season (2-4 loss). In total, the rivals met 37 times, 33 wins in the assets of SKA hockey players, the Moscow Region team won only four matches. Last season, the only meeting of these teams turned out to be super-successful, the audience saw 10 goals scored, a 5-5 draw at the end of regular time and Vityaz's victory in the shootout series.

Odds from download 1xbet

The favorite of the fight is obvious, the odds for the victory of SKA are 1.45, while the possible success of Vityaz can be bet with a odd of 7.2. Judging by the bookmaker's quotes, a draw in this match is unlikely. The coefficient for such a development of events is 5.6. As for the expected performance, here 1xbet on the basic total offers the following quotes: Total over (4.5) - 1.77, Total under (4.5) - 2.01. Install the 1xbet app and place a bet on the favorite!

Game Totals Prediction

The army team is noticeably stronger, especially since they will have to play on their own ice, which further increases SKA's chances of winning the upcoming match. In the current championship, Vityaz plays well at home (second result in the Western Conference just after SKA), but frankly looks faded on the road (only one victory). Everything goes to the fact that the army team will continue their victorious march, confidently dealing with the middle peasants of the championship. Our prediction is SKA to win with a handicap (-1.5) with odds of 1.74.