Ak Bars vs CSKA. Who will start the final series with a win?
The final of the Gagarin Cup of the 2022/23 season starts on April 17 with a match in Kazan. Hockey players of the two best teams of the current season - Ak Bars and CSKA will take to the ice of the local Tatneft Arena.
For the Kazan club, this is already the fifth entry into the Gagarin Cup final, the Bars took the honorary trophy three times, and under the guidance of one coach - Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. Bilyaletdinov is back at the helm of the club, returning to the Ak Bars coaching bridge during the current season. It was the return of the master of the domestic coaching workshop to the Kazan club that became the starting point for a qualitative breakthrough for Ak Bars. The team seriously added in the second part of the regular season, having managed, after an unsuccessful start in the tournament, to become the first in the Eastern Conference.
The path to the playoff final for Ak Bars turned out to be quite simple. In the first round, Kazan outplayed their neighbors from Nizhnekamsk, the hockey club Neftekhimik, in six matches. All the same six matches were required for Kazan in the second round, where Admiral from Vladivostok was in rivals with Ak Bars. Surprisingly enough, but the semi-final series turned out to be the shortest. The rivalry with the Omsk Avant-garde was expected to be extremely stubborn, but in the end, Barca lost only once (2-3 at home), in turn, scoring four victories (twice 3-2 at home, as well as 3-2 and 1-0 away).
CSKA
The army team has reached the Gagarin Cup final for the fifth consecutive season, and twice, in the 2018/19 and 21/22 seasons, CSKA won the final. Thus, the army team are the current holders of the Gagarin Cup. The capital club spent the regular season without much brilliance, almost from the starting segment hopelessly behind their St. Petersburg teammates. Nevertheless, the wards of Sergei Fedorov became the second in the West, having managed to bypass Yaroslavl Lokomotiv and Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo literally at the finish of the championship.
Unlike Ak Bars, the army team went through the starting rounds of the playoffs with a creak, twice bringing the matter to the seventh match. In the first round, CSKA hacked to death with Severstal, managing to put a winning point only in the seventh game, winning at home with a score of 5-3. Similarly, the quarter-final series against the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv was developing for the army team. And again everything was decided in the seventh match, and again the army team finished everything with a 5-0 home victory. In the semi-finals, the army team was already habitually expected by St. Petersburg SKA. And again CSKA turned out to be stronger than their St. Petersburg teammates, giving the opponent only two matches.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Ak Bars vs CSKA
Ak BarsFor the Kazan club, this is already the fifth entry into the Gagarin Cup final, the Bars took the honorary trophy three times, and under the guidance of one coach - Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. Bilyaletdinov is back at the helm of the club, returning to the Ak Bars coaching bridge during the current season. It was the return of the master of the domestic coaching workshop to the Kazan club that became the starting point for a qualitative breakthrough for Ak Bars. The team seriously added in the second part of the regular season, having managed, after an unsuccessful start in the tournament, to become the first in the Eastern Conference.
The path to the playoff final for Ak Bars turned out to be quite simple. In the first round, Kazan outplayed their neighbors from Nizhnekamsk, the hockey club Neftekhimik, in six matches. All the same six matches were required for Kazan in the second round, where Admiral from Vladivostok was in rivals with Ak Bars. Surprisingly enough, but the semi-final series turned out to be the shortest. The rivalry with the Omsk Avant-garde was expected to be extremely stubborn, but in the end, Barca lost only once (2-3 at home), in turn, scoring four victories (twice 3-2 at home, as well as 3-2 and 1-0 away).
CSKA
The army team has reached the Gagarin Cup final for the fifth consecutive season, and twice, in the 2018/19 and 21/22 seasons, CSKA won the final. Thus, the army team are the current holders of the Gagarin Cup. The capital club spent the regular season without much brilliance, almost from the starting segment hopelessly behind their St. Petersburg teammates. Nevertheless, the wards of Sergei Fedorov became the second in the West, having managed to bypass Yaroslavl Lokomotiv and Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo literally at the finish of the championship.
Unlike Ak Bars, the army team went through the starting rounds of the playoffs with a creak, twice bringing the matter to the seventh match. In the first round, CSKA hacked to death with Severstal, managing to put a winning point only in the seventh game, winning at home with a score of 5-3. Similarly, the quarter-final series against the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv was developing for the army team. And again everything was decided in the seventh match, and again the army team finished everything with a 5-0 home victory. In the semi-finals, the army team was already habitually expected by St. Petersburg SKA. And again CSKA turned out to be stronger than their St. Petersburg teammates, giving the opponent only two matches.
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