Spartak vs Ak Bars. Will the red and white take revenge for the recent defeat in Kazan?
On February 17, the capital's Megasport Arena will host the next match of the KHL regular championship between Spartak and Kazan Ak Bars.
The capital club, despite the serious concerns of some experts, overcame its own gaming crisis quite painlessly, retaining its place in the quartet of the best teams in the Western Conference. In January, the red-and-white's playing problems were compounded by an epidemic of injuries, which immediately wiped out all the specialized center forwards. Now the injured are returning to duty, which immediately had a positive impact on the team’s results.
At the beginning of February, Spartak had a series of victorious matches, winning four bright victories in a row. The red-white attack sparkled again; in these four matches, Spartak scored 17 goals, despite the fact that the level of the opponents was quite high. In turn they beat Avtomobilist 3-0, Avangard 5-3, Barys 4-1, Lokomotiv 5-1. Unfortunately, in the game against Lokomotiv, Ivan Morozov, a key player on the first line, was injured. Without Morozov, Spartak interrupted its winning streak, losing 2-4 in Cherepovets to local Severstal. However, the red-and-whites will no longer fall below fourth place at the end of the regular season, which guarantees the team the start of the playoffs on home ice.
Ak Bars
Leopards, like Spartak, are currently fourth in their conference. But if this result is a real breakthrough for the red-and-whites, then Ak Bars’ performance during the current regular season raises many questions. Having one of the most star-studded rosters by name, the Kazan team looked so lackluster during the regular season that at some point they even risked being left without the playoffs. However, the class of the players had an effect, at the right time Barca stepped up their game and by mid-February they officially guaranteed themselves a spot in the cup stage of the championship.
Ak Bars' attacking performance raises a lot of questions. With such bright stars as Radulov, Shipachev, Kagarlitsky, Kazan is only 13th in the League in terms of the number of goals scored. The defense comes to the rescue; in terms of goals conceded, Barca are among the top three teams in the championship. In February, Ak Bars won three victories (over Traktor 4-1 and 2-1, as well as over Neftekhimik 3-0), with two defeats (against Siberia 1-4 and Salavat Yulaev 1-2). The team will not rise higher than fourth place in the East, so the main task for the remaining matches is to maintain the current position, which will allow them to start in the playoffs with home matches.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Spartak vs Ak Bars
SpartakThe capital club, despite the serious concerns of some experts, overcame its own gaming crisis quite painlessly, retaining its place in the quartet of the best teams in the Western Conference. In January, the red-and-white's playing problems were compounded by an epidemic of injuries, which immediately wiped out all the specialized center forwards. Now the injured are returning to duty, which immediately had a positive impact on the team’s results.
At the beginning of February, Spartak had a series of victorious matches, winning four bright victories in a row. The red-white attack sparkled again; in these four matches, Spartak scored 17 goals, despite the fact that the level of the opponents was quite high. In turn they beat Avtomobilist 3-0, Avangard 5-3, Barys 4-1, Lokomotiv 5-1. Unfortunately, in the game against Lokomotiv, Ivan Morozov, a key player on the first line, was injured. Without Morozov, Spartak interrupted its winning streak, losing 2-4 in Cherepovets to local Severstal. However, the red-and-whites will no longer fall below fourth place at the end of the regular season, which guarantees the team the start of the playoffs on home ice.
Ak Bars
Leopards, like Spartak, are currently fourth in their conference. But if this result is a real breakthrough for the red-and-whites, then Ak Bars’ performance during the current regular season raises many questions. Having one of the most star-studded rosters by name, the Kazan team looked so lackluster during the regular season that at some point they even risked being left without the playoffs. However, the class of the players had an effect, at the right time Barca stepped up their game and by mid-February they officially guaranteed themselves a spot in the cup stage of the championship.
Ak Bars' attacking performance raises a lot of questions. With such bright stars as Radulov, Shipachev, Kagarlitsky, Kazan is only 13th in the League in terms of the number of goals scored. The defense comes to the rescue; in terms of goals conceded, Barca are among the top three teams in the championship. In February, Ak Bars won three victories (over Traktor 4-1 and 2-1, as well as over Neftekhimik 3-0), with two defeats (against Siberia 1-4 and Salavat Yulaev 1-2). The team will not rise higher than fourth place in the East, so the main task for the remaining matches is to maintain the current position, which will allow them to start in the playoffs with home matches.
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