SKA vs Lada. Will the St. Petersburg club take another step towards the championship?
The newest SKA Arena will host the next match of the KHL regular championship on February 13. St. Petersburg SKA, striving for the championship, will play on home ice with the newcomer to the League, Tolyatti Lada.
The St. Petersburg club has an excellent chance of repeating the achievement of last season, when the team became the best in the regular championship, winning the third Continental Cup in its history. Having spent the first half of the championship rather mediocrely, at some point the St. Petersburg club was even outside the cup eight, the army team made serious improvements in November, easily eliminating the points handicap from the leading group. Injured hockey players returned to action, newcomers fit into the team game and at the moment it is the St. Petersburg club that looks like the main favorite in the fight for the championship.
The excellent playing form of the St. Petersburg club is eloquently evidenced by the fact that in the last ten matches Roman Rotenberg’s team lost only twice. The fiasco in Omsk was painful, where the opponents were Avangard, one of the main competitors of the St. Petersburg club in the fight for the Continental Cup. The rivals played open hockey, giving the fans 14 goals. In this scoring shootout, Omsk turned out to be stronger, winning with a score of 9-5. Now SKA has 85 points, which allows the team to lead in the West. In the KHL summary standings, the St. Petersburg team is still third, losing one point to the two best teams in the Eastern Conference – Metallurg and Avangard.
Lada
The Tolyatti team can already take advantage of this season by securing a ticket to the playoffs long before the end of the regular season. After a six-year absence from the elite of domestic hockey, Lada got down to business without hesitation, having already won a number of significant victories at the start of the season. At some point, the Togliatti team even took the lead in the East, ahead of such giants as Metallurg, Avangard and Ak Bars.
Having resolved the issue of getting into the cup stage, Lada slowed down somewhat, recently losing more often than gaining points. The Tolyatti team lost their last four games in the championship, taking only one point in the away match against Neftekhimik, which they eventually lost to in overtime. Lada is unlikely to fall below seventh place; the gap between eighth-placed Neftekhimik is ten points, but the Tolyatti team can still rise higher. Only two points separate Lada from fourth place, so there is still something to fight for in the remaining matches.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on SKA vs Lada
SKAThe St. Petersburg club has an excellent chance of repeating the achievement of last season, when the team became the best in the regular championship, winning the third Continental Cup in its history. Having spent the first half of the championship rather mediocrely, at some point the St. Petersburg club was even outside the cup eight, the army team made serious improvements in November, easily eliminating the points handicap from the leading group. Injured hockey players returned to action, newcomers fit into the team game and at the moment it is the St. Petersburg club that looks like the main favorite in the fight for the championship.
The excellent playing form of the St. Petersburg club is eloquently evidenced by the fact that in the last ten matches Roman Rotenberg’s team lost only twice. The fiasco in Omsk was painful, where the opponents were Avangard, one of the main competitors of the St. Petersburg club in the fight for the Continental Cup. The rivals played open hockey, giving the fans 14 goals. In this scoring shootout, Omsk turned out to be stronger, winning with a score of 9-5. Now SKA has 85 points, which allows the team to lead in the West. In the KHL summary standings, the St. Petersburg team is still third, losing one point to the two best teams in the Eastern Conference – Metallurg and Avangard.
Lada
The Tolyatti team can already take advantage of this season by securing a ticket to the playoffs long before the end of the regular season. After a six-year absence from the elite of domestic hockey, Lada got down to business without hesitation, having already won a number of significant victories at the start of the season. At some point, the Togliatti team even took the lead in the East, ahead of such giants as Metallurg, Avangard and Ak Bars.
Having resolved the issue of getting into the cup stage, Lada slowed down somewhat, recently losing more often than gaining points. The Tolyatti team lost their last four games in the championship, taking only one point in the away match against Neftekhimik, which they eventually lost to in overtime. Lada is unlikely to fall below seventh place; the gap between eighth-placed Neftekhimik is ten points, but the Tolyatti team can still rise higher. Only two points separate Lada from fourth place, so there is still something to fight for in the remaining matches.
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