Ak Bars vs Lokomotiv. Will the Kazan club be able to extend its winning streak?
On February 21, Kazan Ak Bars will play a home match against Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in the next match of the KHL regular championship. The meeting will take place on the ice of the Kazan Tatneft Arena next Wednesday.
The Kazan club, as expected, begins to wake up towards the end of the regular season, gaining shape ahead of the start of the playoffs. The inexpressive performance during the regular season should not mislead anyone; by name, Ak Bars is one of the main contenders for the Gagarin Cup, especially since the club is headed by Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, who has already won three major KHL trophies as a coach.
Ak Bars's defensive play has been impressive in recent matches. In the last five matches, Barca conceded only four goals, twice managing to keep their goal intact. In the match against Neftekhimik, Timur Bilyalov kept a clean sheet, for whom this was already the seventh clean sheet of the season; in the away match against Spartak, Amir Miftakhov played perfectly in goal. At the same time, Barca does not particularly shine in attack; 164 goals scored is only 13th in the League. The team's top scorer at the moment is Vadim Shipachev, who, with 43 points scored, ranks 30th in the list of top scorers in the KHL. Bars' first opponent in the playoffs will most likely be Avtomobilist. The teams are now in fourth (Ak Bars) and fifth (Avtomobilist) positions and, at best, can only swap places. Ak Bars currently has 80 points, Avtomobilist is two points behind.
Lokomotiv
Under certain circumstances, railway workers can still claim the final first place in the West, but objectively speaking, this is unlikely to happen. Lokomotiv is currently third, losing one point to the capital's Dynamo and four to St. Petersburg's SKA. Igor Nikitin’s team will play the remaining matches of the championship on the road; in addition to the visit to Kazan, the railway workers also have away matches against Neftekhimik and Avtomobilist. At the same time, the Yaroslavl team is unlikely to fall below third place, so in the first round of the playoffs the team will have to play with sixth place, which is currently occupied by Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo.
As for the current form of Lokomotiv, in the first half of February the team experienced both ups and downs. Three straight wins at the start of the month were followed by three losses in the second week of February. Lokomotiv put an end to the talk about a gaming crisis with two home matches last week, when they beat CSKA 5-4 and Ufa's Salavat Yulaev 3-0.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Ak Bars vs Lokomotiv
Ak BarsThe Kazan club, as expected, begins to wake up towards the end of the regular season, gaining shape ahead of the start of the playoffs. The inexpressive performance during the regular season should not mislead anyone; by name, Ak Bars is one of the main contenders for the Gagarin Cup, especially since the club is headed by Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, who has already won three major KHL trophies as a coach.
Ak Bars's defensive play has been impressive in recent matches. In the last five matches, Barca conceded only four goals, twice managing to keep their goal intact. In the match against Neftekhimik, Timur Bilyalov kept a clean sheet, for whom this was already the seventh clean sheet of the season; in the away match against Spartak, Amir Miftakhov played perfectly in goal. At the same time, Barca does not particularly shine in attack; 164 goals scored is only 13th in the League. The team's top scorer at the moment is Vadim Shipachev, who, with 43 points scored, ranks 30th in the list of top scorers in the KHL. Bars' first opponent in the playoffs will most likely be Avtomobilist. The teams are now in fourth (Ak Bars) and fifth (Avtomobilist) positions and, at best, can only swap places. Ak Bars currently has 80 points, Avtomobilist is two points behind.
Lokomotiv
Under certain circumstances, railway workers can still claim the final first place in the West, but objectively speaking, this is unlikely to happen. Lokomotiv is currently third, losing one point to the capital's Dynamo and four to St. Petersburg's SKA. Igor Nikitin’s team will play the remaining matches of the championship on the road; in addition to the visit to Kazan, the railway workers also have away matches against Neftekhimik and Avtomobilist. At the same time, the Yaroslavl team is unlikely to fall below third place, so in the first round of the playoffs the team will have to play with sixth place, which is currently occupied by Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo.
As for the current form of Lokomotiv, in the first half of February the team experienced both ups and downs. Three straight wins at the start of the month were followed by three losses in the second week of February. Lokomotiv put an end to the talk about a gaming crisis with two home matches last week, when they beat CSKA 5-4 and Ufa's Salavat Yulaev 3-0.
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