Locomotive vs CSKA. Prediction for the third match 1/8 KHL
The main confrontation of the first round of the playoffs in the West moves to Yaroslavl. It is there, on the ice of the local Arena 2000 - Lokomotiv, on March 5 that the third match of the series between Lokomotiv and CSKA will take place. The score in the series is 2-0 in favor of CSKA.
To be frank, the railroad workers frankly failed the first part of the season. A team with championship ambitions, backed up by serious financial resources and a decent selection of players, should not show such a level of play. The change of the head coach, and at the end of September Andrei Skabelka was replaced by Igor Nikitin, did not radically change the situation. All the same indistinct game, serious problems with implementation, periodically lame defense. Thus, the sixth place in the regular season is quite natural, the railway workers simply did not play enough for more.
The expectation that Lokomotiv will gather in the playoffs and show better hockey has not yet been justified. After two opening games in Moscow, Lokomotiv is hopelessly on fire in the 0-2 series, risking to complete its cup campaign in front of its fans in Yaroslavl. If in the first match Lokomotiv was closer to victory, allowing the army team to level the score only at the 56th minute of the match, then the second match of the series was lost without options. The locomotive managed to open an account, in the fourth minute of the first period Anisimov scored, but later the game was dictated by the army club, ending with the victory of CSKA with a score of 4-1.
CSKA
The army team entered the season with loud statements about changing the game concept to a more attacking one, replacing Igor Nikitin with the club legend Sergey Fedorov for this task. Judging by the statistics at the end of the regular season, there were no significant changes. If last season the army team scored an average of three goals per game, now this figure has dropped to 2.6 goals per game. Already traditionally, an almost perfectly built game in defense comes to the aid of the army team. In terms of the number of missed goals, the army team confidently stays in the top five teams in the League.
Before the start of the playoffs, there were certain fears that CSKA would not be in optimal condition for the first round. It was the army team that was the base club of the Russian team at the Beijing Olympics, delegating almost half of the team to the hockey tournament. Fears were not confirmed. In the first game, CSKA managed to add at the end of the match, losing during the third period with a score of 2-3. As a result, first Okulov equalized the score, and then in the fourth minute of overtime, Maxim Sorkin brought victory to the capital team. The army team had to recoup in the second match of the series. Having conceded already in the fourth minute, the army team literally equalized the score with the efforts of Plotnikov, and then finally finished off Lokomotiv in the final twenty minutes, ending the game with a score of 4-1.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Locomotive vs CSKA
LocomotiveTo be frank, the railroad workers frankly failed the first part of the season. A team with championship ambitions, backed up by serious financial resources and a decent selection of players, should not show such a level of play. The change of the head coach, and at the end of September Andrei Skabelka was replaced by Igor Nikitin, did not radically change the situation. All the same indistinct game, serious problems with implementation, periodically lame defense. Thus, the sixth place in the regular season is quite natural, the railway workers simply did not play enough for more.
The expectation that Lokomotiv will gather in the playoffs and show better hockey has not yet been justified. After two opening games in Moscow, Lokomotiv is hopelessly on fire in the 0-2 series, risking to complete its cup campaign in front of its fans in Yaroslavl. If in the first match Lokomotiv was closer to victory, allowing the army team to level the score only at the 56th minute of the match, then the second match of the series was lost without options. The locomotive managed to open an account, in the fourth minute of the first period Anisimov scored, but later the game was dictated by the army club, ending with the victory of CSKA with a score of 4-1.
CSKA
The army team entered the season with loud statements about changing the game concept to a more attacking one, replacing Igor Nikitin with the club legend Sergey Fedorov for this task. Judging by the statistics at the end of the regular season, there were no significant changes. If last season the army team scored an average of three goals per game, now this figure has dropped to 2.6 goals per game. Already traditionally, an almost perfectly built game in defense comes to the aid of the army team. In terms of the number of missed goals, the army team confidently stays in the top five teams in the League.
Before the start of the playoffs, there were certain fears that CSKA would not be in optimal condition for the first round. It was the army team that was the base club of the Russian team at the Beijing Olympics, delegating almost half of the team to the hockey tournament. Fears were not confirmed. In the first game, CSKA managed to add at the end of the match, losing during the third period with a score of 2-3. As a result, first Okulov equalized the score, and then in the fourth minute of overtime, Maxim Sorkin brought victory to the capital team. The army team had to recoup in the second match of the series. Having conceded already in the fourth minute, the army team literally equalized the score with the efforts of Plotnikov, and then finally finished off Lokomotiv in the final twenty minutes, ending the game with a score of 4-1.
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