Metallurg vs CSKA. Championship leader versus current Gagarin Cup winner
Metallurg will continue the home series on December 5 with a match against the capital CSKA. The main match of the day will take place in Magnitogorsk, on the ice of the local Metallurg Arena.
The Magnitogorsk team continues to prove that inviting Andrei Razin to the post of head coach in the summer is fully justified. If last season, under the leadership of Ilya Vorobyov, Metallurg played more defensive hockey, now the Urals are second in the League in terms of the number of goals scored, second only to the capital Spartak in this indicator. It is curious that Metallurg's top scorer at the moment is 19-year-old Danila Yurov, who scored 26 points for performance (11+15). Over the previous three seasons, the forward had only 15 points, but now in three months of the championship he has almost doubled his own result.
As for Metallurg's long-distance performance, it is worth noting the team's performance in November, when Andrei Razin's charges were able to win 10 victories in a row. The impression of a successful performance was slightly blurred by the game on November 30, when Metallurg played in Kazakhstan against Barys. The game against one of the championship outsiders initially did not work out for the Urals, ending in a final defeat of 2-5. Despite this unexpected misfire, Metallurg continues to confidently lead in the East, with 54 points scored, beating its closest pursuer, which is Omsk Avangard, by three points.
CSKA
The best team of the last two seasons in the KHL, the capital's army team still leaves a mixed impression from its performance in the first part of the regular season. The army team had a very difficult time getting into the season, although last year's championship squad was almost completely preserved. There was a certain lack of mood among the hockey players, who, after the dramatic spring cup battles, were forced to plunge into the routine of the regular season. At the same time, there is no particular doubt that the army team may well add at the right time, since the potential of CSKA hockey players still remains high.
In the meantime, the army team continues to perform unevenly, after a couple of won matches they always manage to lose. In the last five matches of the championship, CSKA has three victories (over Severstal 3-2 and twice over Dynamo Minsk 4-0 and 5-3) with two defeats (from SKA 1-2 and Yaroslavl Lokomotiv 2-3). Certain personnel problems of the army team also affect the result. Dietz, Okulov, Grigorenko, the leaders of CSKA, who largely determine the club’s playing pattern, were forced to miss the team’s last matches due to injuries. Now CSKA ranks only sixth in the Western Conference standings, with 42 points scored, being closer to outsiders than to the leading group.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Metallurg vs CSKA
MetallurgThe Magnitogorsk team continues to prove that inviting Andrei Razin to the post of head coach in the summer is fully justified. If last season, under the leadership of Ilya Vorobyov, Metallurg played more defensive hockey, now the Urals are second in the League in terms of the number of goals scored, second only to the capital Spartak in this indicator. It is curious that Metallurg's top scorer at the moment is 19-year-old Danila Yurov, who scored 26 points for performance (11+15). Over the previous three seasons, the forward had only 15 points, but now in three months of the championship he has almost doubled his own result.
As for Metallurg's long-distance performance, it is worth noting the team's performance in November, when Andrei Razin's charges were able to win 10 victories in a row. The impression of a successful performance was slightly blurred by the game on November 30, when Metallurg played in Kazakhstan against Barys. The game against one of the championship outsiders initially did not work out for the Urals, ending in a final defeat of 2-5. Despite this unexpected misfire, Metallurg continues to confidently lead in the East, with 54 points scored, beating its closest pursuer, which is Omsk Avangard, by three points.
CSKA
The best team of the last two seasons in the KHL, the capital's army team still leaves a mixed impression from its performance in the first part of the regular season. The army team had a very difficult time getting into the season, although last year's championship squad was almost completely preserved. There was a certain lack of mood among the hockey players, who, after the dramatic spring cup battles, were forced to plunge into the routine of the regular season. At the same time, there is no particular doubt that the army team may well add at the right time, since the potential of CSKA hockey players still remains high.
In the meantime, the army team continues to perform unevenly, after a couple of won matches they always manage to lose. In the last five matches of the championship, CSKA has three victories (over Severstal 3-2 and twice over Dynamo Minsk 4-0 and 5-3) with two defeats (from SKA 1-2 and Yaroslavl Lokomotiv 2-3). Certain personnel problems of the army team also affect the result. Dietz, Okulov, Grigorenko, the leaders of CSKA, who largely determine the club’s playing pattern, were forced to miss the team’s last matches due to injuries. Now CSKA ranks only sixth in the Western Conference standings, with 42 points scored, being closer to outsiders than to the leading group.
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