CSKA vs Torpedo. The fight for silver continues

The last game week of the KHL regular championship for the capital's army team starts with a home match against Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo. The meeting of teams from the leading group of the Western Conference will be held on February 20 in Moscow, on the ice of the CSKA Arena.

Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on CSKA vs Torpedo

CSKA

The current holders of the Gagarin Cup, the capital's army team, continue to fight for the final second place in the conference, having lost all chances to catch up with the leading teammates from St. Petersburg. The army team was noticeably knocked down by not the best start in the championship, which immediately threw the wards of Sergei Fedorov into the middle of the standings. By the equator of the championship, the army team picked up their usual pace, but they could not catch up with the eternal competitors from SKA. Nevertheless, the army team returned to the group of leaders, concentrating on the fight for virtual silver. Now CSKA has 86 points and the current fourth place in the West. Direct competitors, Yaroslavl Lokomotiv and Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo, have respectively 88 and 87 points, while the railwaymen played two matches more.

Some concern is the current form of the army. After a powerful stretch in the middle of the championship, the capital club slowed down somewhat, having suffered three defeats in the last ten days alone. Moreover, twice the army team lost on home ice (5-6 to Barys and 1-4 to Lokomotiv), which has not happened so often with CSKA in recent years. Another defeat came in an away match against Salavat Yulaev, the Ufa team won with a score of 2-1. In the remaining matches of the regular championship, the army team will have to play just with Lokomotiv and Torpedo, the results of these matches will largely be decisive in the battle for second place.

Torpedo

The Avtozavodsk team should be recognised as the main revelation of the current championship. One of the youngest teams in the KHL, led by a debutant coach, with no bright stars on the roster - there were no special prerequisites for a qualitative breakthrough after last year's ninth-place finish and not making the playoffs. The Nizhny Novgorod club put the skeptics to shame. Throughout the season, the Avtomobilets were among the best teams in the Western Conference, eliminating any question of making the playoffs long before the end of the regular season. Currently, Torpedo are one point ahead of the Army team in the standings.

The Torpedo team played six games in February, winning four of those games. Once again, it is worth noting the Torpedo attack, in four won games, Avtovodtsy threw 17 pucks, five times firing the defense of Siberia and Salavat Yulaev, four pucks were in the gate of Spartak Moscow. The Torpedo team finished second in the league in the number of pucks scored, 190 goals behind only SKA St. Petersburg.

CSKA vs Torpedo

Statistics

An unexpected fact, the last three seasons the army team has consistently lost to the torpedo team in home matches. The current season was no exception, on December 7, Torpedo confidently outplayed the army club in Moscow, winning with a score of 4-2. The last time the army team won at home was in March 2020, in the first round of the playoffs of the Gagarin Cup. At the same time, the overall statistics of head-to-head matches between these teams is still in favor of the army club. Of the 43 matches played, CSKA won 29, leaving Nizhny Novgorod with 14 victories.

Odds from download 1xbet

Despite the recent setbacks in home matches, the bookmaker continues to believe in the army club, placing odds of 1.82 on CSKA's victory. A possible victory for Torpedo can be taken for 3.85, a similar odds of 4.1 and for a draw at the end of regular time. As for the overall performance of the teams, 1xbet offers the following quotes: total over (4.5) - 1.59, total under (4.5) - 2.31. Install the 1xbet app and place a bet on the favorite!

Game Totals Prediction

At stake is second place in the conference, which gives a certain advantage in the first rounds of the playoffs. Both teams need a win, so there is no need to talk about the lack of motivation. Despite a number of misfires in recent matches, CSKA remains the favorite for the upcoming game. The army team needs to rehabilitate themselves in front of their fans for their recent home defeats, so the game against a direct competitor is a great opportunity for this. Our prediction is for CSKA to win in regular time with odds of 1.82.

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