Severstal vs Avangard. Which opponent will be stronger in the upcoming game?
On January 23, the Cherepovets Ice Palace will host the next match of the KHL regular championship. Local Severstal will host one of the leaders of the Eastern Conference, Omsk Avangard, on home ice.
Andrei Kozyrev's team ended 2023 with an away defeat to CSKA 1-3, thereby seemingly excluding themselves from further struggle for getting into the top 6 of the Western Conference at the end of the regular season. The team's position was complicated by injuries to two main goalkeepers, Konstantin Shostak and Dmitry Shugaev, in whose absence Alexander Samoilov, who began the season in the MHL club Buran, was brought in to play for the main team. For the 26-year-old goalkeeper, his debut in the KHL turned out to be excellent; in the six games he played, he conceded only six goals, while keeping three clean sheets.
The goalkeeper’s excellent play was supported by his teammates; in January, Severstal did not lose a single match, winning seven victories in a row. To some extent, the calendar helped the Cherepovets; four opponents were from the basement of the standings, which the club, aspiring to get into the playoffs, had to beat at home. At the same time, Severstal also managed to beat St. Petersburg SKA 3-2 at home, and then beat Traktor and Avtomobilist twice on the road with a clean score of 1-0 and 3-0. Thus, Severstal is already sixth in the West, with 61 points scored, only two points behind the fifth Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo.
Avangard
The Omsk club also plays its January matches in a similar style. True, unlike the Severstal hockey players, Avangard already has one defeat in 2024; on January 3, the Omsk team lost at home with a score of 2-4 to the Ufa Salavat Yulaev. Then the team went on a streak of seven victorious matches, just like Severstal, surprising with its ultra-reliable defensive play. In January, Avangard conceded only 14 goals in 8 matches, and 7 of them came in two matches against Salavat Yulaev and Lada.
The Omsk club was not embarrassed by the injury of leading forward Vladimir Tkachev, who will be forced to miss around two weeks. Without Tkachev, the Omsk team confidently defeated CSKA at home 4-1, and then beat another capital club Spartak on the road, achieving a victory with a score of 3-1. Now Avangard continues to fight for the championship in the East, with 75 points scored, second only to Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The difference between the teams is only one point, but Omsk played two games less, so Avangard is potentially now the leader of the Eastern Conference.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Severstal vs Avangard
SeverstalAndrei Kozyrev's team ended 2023 with an away defeat to CSKA 1-3, thereby seemingly excluding themselves from further struggle for getting into the top 6 of the Western Conference at the end of the regular season. The team's position was complicated by injuries to two main goalkeepers, Konstantin Shostak and Dmitry Shugaev, in whose absence Alexander Samoilov, who began the season in the MHL club Buran, was brought in to play for the main team. For the 26-year-old goalkeeper, his debut in the KHL turned out to be excellent; in the six games he played, he conceded only six goals, while keeping three clean sheets.
The goalkeeper’s excellent play was supported by his teammates; in January, Severstal did not lose a single match, winning seven victories in a row. To some extent, the calendar helped the Cherepovets; four opponents were from the basement of the standings, which the club, aspiring to get into the playoffs, had to beat at home. At the same time, Severstal also managed to beat St. Petersburg SKA 3-2 at home, and then beat Traktor and Avtomobilist twice on the road with a clean score of 1-0 and 3-0. Thus, Severstal is already sixth in the West, with 61 points scored, only two points behind the fifth Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo.
Avangard
The Omsk club also plays its January matches in a similar style. True, unlike the Severstal hockey players, Avangard already has one defeat in 2024; on January 3, the Omsk team lost at home with a score of 2-4 to the Ufa Salavat Yulaev. Then the team went on a streak of seven victorious matches, just like Severstal, surprising with its ultra-reliable defensive play. In January, Avangard conceded only 14 goals in 8 matches, and 7 of them came in two matches against Salavat Yulaev and Lada.
The Omsk club was not embarrassed by the injury of leading forward Vladimir Tkachev, who will be forced to miss around two weeks. Without Tkachev, the Omsk team confidently defeated CSKA at home 4-1, and then beat another capital club Spartak on the road, achieving a victory with a score of 3-1. Now Avangard continues to fight for the championship in the East, with 75 points scored, second only to Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The difference between the teams is only one point, but Omsk played two games less, so Avangard is potentially now the leader of the Eastern Conference.
Comments 0