Salavat Yulaev vs SKA. How will the visit of the championship leader to Ufa turn out?
On Friday, January 6, Salavat Yulaev will hold a home match against the sole leader of the championship - St. Petersburg SKA. The central meeting of the game day will be held on the ice of the Ufa Arena.
In October, there was a moment when the Ufa club, after a series of successful matches, broke into the leaders of the Eastern Conference, demonstrating an excellent game. Salavat Yulaev failed to gain a foothold at the top of the standings, by November the Ufa team had fallen into a serious functional hole, losing more often than gaining points. In December, the affairs of the Ufa club improved somewhat, but so far there is no need to talk about former stability. Salavat has a noticeable bias towards defense, in terms of missed goals the team is among the best in the championship, but in terms of abandoned goals it does not even make it into the top ten. To a certain extent, the American striker Ho-Sang, who was seriously injured in the opening match of the championship, can change the situation, but he is not yet ready to go on the ice.
Nevertheless, the Ufa won the first match of the coming year. Moreover, one of the leaders of the Western Conference, ranked second, Yaroslavl Lokomotiv was beaten. For most of the match, the Ufimians were in the role of catching up, conceding the puck at the end of the first period, but excellent work on the majority allowed Salavat to take the much-needed two points. When playing in the majority, Salavat scored Khmelevsky and Naumenko. After this victory, the wards of Viktor Kozlov returned to fourth place in the East, with 57 points scored 5 points behind the leading Avtomobilist.
SKA
The St. Petersburg club continues to be the most stable team in the current championship, not allowing itself to allow long unsuccessful streaks for four months already. There are local failures, but they absolutely do not affect the overall performance of the St. Petersburg team this season. Wards of Roman Rotenberg are rushing at full speed to the championship following the results of the regular season, and only some kind of miracle, or their own laxity, can deprive the St. Petersburg team of this.
It is relaxation that should explain the two defeats of St. Petersburg in the last days of last year. SKA lost 1-3 in Moscow to CSKA, and then had a fiery shootout with Vityaz near Moscow, losing in the end 5-6. All questions about a possible crisis were already removed by the first match of the St. Petersburg team in the new year, which they played in Chelyabinsk against the local Tractor. A convincing victory with a score of 9-3, Dmitry Yashkin's three goals, Nikita Gusev's and Alexander Nikishin's three assists each, the Petersburgers once again proved that they are the best in the KHL right now. This is also evidenced by the numbers, the first place in the championship, 76 points scored, 11 points ahead of the closest competitor.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Salavat Yulaev vs SKA
Salavat YulaevIn October, there was a moment when the Ufa club, after a series of successful matches, broke into the leaders of the Eastern Conference, demonstrating an excellent game. Salavat Yulaev failed to gain a foothold at the top of the standings, by November the Ufa team had fallen into a serious functional hole, losing more often than gaining points. In December, the affairs of the Ufa club improved somewhat, but so far there is no need to talk about former stability. Salavat has a noticeable bias towards defense, in terms of missed goals the team is among the best in the championship, but in terms of abandoned goals it does not even make it into the top ten. To a certain extent, the American striker Ho-Sang, who was seriously injured in the opening match of the championship, can change the situation, but he is not yet ready to go on the ice.
Nevertheless, the Ufa won the first match of the coming year. Moreover, one of the leaders of the Western Conference, ranked second, Yaroslavl Lokomotiv was beaten. For most of the match, the Ufimians were in the role of catching up, conceding the puck at the end of the first period, but excellent work on the majority allowed Salavat to take the much-needed two points. When playing in the majority, Salavat scored Khmelevsky and Naumenko. After this victory, the wards of Viktor Kozlov returned to fourth place in the East, with 57 points scored 5 points behind the leading Avtomobilist.
SKA
The St. Petersburg club continues to be the most stable team in the current championship, not allowing itself to allow long unsuccessful streaks for four months already. There are local failures, but they absolutely do not affect the overall performance of the St. Petersburg team this season. Wards of Roman Rotenberg are rushing at full speed to the championship following the results of the regular season, and only some kind of miracle, or their own laxity, can deprive the St. Petersburg team of this.
It is relaxation that should explain the two defeats of St. Petersburg in the last days of last year. SKA lost 1-3 in Moscow to CSKA, and then had a fiery shootout with Vityaz near Moscow, losing in the end 5-6. All questions about a possible crisis were already removed by the first match of the St. Petersburg team in the new year, which they played in Chelyabinsk against the local Tractor. A convincing victory with a score of 9-3, Dmitry Yashkin's three goals, Nikita Gusev's and Alexander Nikishin's three assists each, the Petersburgers once again proved that they are the best in the KHL right now. This is also evidenced by the numbers, the first place in the championship, 76 points scored, 11 points ahead of the closest competitor.
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