CSKA vs Sochi Prediction 3 February 2026
🔊 The KHL's lowest-scoring team is set to visit the Moscow "Army Men". Can the southern squad bounce back from their scoreless performance in the last game? Let's break down this regular season matchup and make a prediction for the clash on February 3rd.
Head-to-Head
📊 Over the past five seasons, the teams have faced off 14 times: the Moscow club has claimed victory in 10 of those encounters, while the Sochi side has won 4. Notably, the last three matches have gone to the "Leopards": in 2025, Sochi twice defeated CSKA at home with a score of 2-0 and secured an away win with a 4-1 result.
Head-to-head statistics CSKA - Sochi
CSKA Moscow Team Overview
In their last three outings, the "Army Men" have triumphed over direct rivals from the top-8 of the Western Conference - SKA (3-2 OT), Dynamo Moscow (4-2), and Severstal (4-2). These victories have allowed Igor Nikitin's team to surpass the Moscow club and secure the fifth spot in the standings.
CSKA's home winning streak now extends to six games, with a point streak at the "CSKA Arena" reaching 13 matches. The last time they left the ice without points was in late November. Over their last 15 games, the "Red and Blues" have amassed 22 points, making them the best in the West.
Recently, the KHL announced the league's top players for January. For the first time in his career, Moscow club defenseman Ivan Patrikhaev was named Rookie of the Month, having tallied 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) in 9 games during the first month of the year. In the match against the "Neva Army Men," Nikitin excluded Klim Kostin from the lineup, while Rhett Gardner returned to the ice after missing the game against Dynamo.
Match Results: CSKA Moscow
Sochi Team Overview
The team with the league's worst goal-scoring record (106) was shut out in their last game against Lokomotiv (0-3). In their last 13 games, Sochi have managed to score three or more goals only once. Interestingly, in four instances, two goals were enough for the "Leopards" to secure a win.
Their low scoring remains a major factor in their poor standing, with Sochi losing 9 of their last 11 games, leaving them second-to-last in the Western Conference. While they are theoretically still in the playoff race, trailing SKA by 17 points with 18 games left in the regular season, their practical chances seem slim.
In an attempt to shake things up before the game against Lokomotiv, Sochi's head coach Dmitry Mikhailov made one change-replacing Rafael Bikmullin with Danil Bashkirov in attack. However, the team left Yaroslavl as the league's worst in terms of goalless games this season (8), tying with Sibir.
Match Results: Sochi
⚡️ Leaders
CSKA's top scorer this season is Prokhol Poltapov. The 23-year-old forward ended a three-game scoring drought in the match against SKA, bringing his season tally to 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists). Denis Guryanov is on a three-game point streak, with 2 goals and 1 assist. Recently, Vitaly Abramov broke a negative trend for CSKA - the Moscow team were the last to win a shootout series this season.
The leading scorer of the league's lowest-scoring team, Max Ellis, is missing his second consecutive game. However, the American remains Sochi's top point-getter with 14 goals and 11 assists. The Leopards' top playmaker is Cameron Lee with 16 assists.
🥅 Goalkeepers
Dmitry Gamzin returned to the net against SKA, making 29 saves and stopping 93.5% of shots. He continues to lead the league in both save percentage and goals-against average.
The recent workload has fallen on Pavel Khomchenko, who, despite conceding three goals against Lokomotiv, posted a 92.3% save percentage. In two matches against the Shanghai Dragons, the 31-year-old was replaced by Ilya Samsonov and Alexey Shchetinin, but they have yet to secure starting roles.
Editorial Prediction
Sochi may be losing, but they're not entirely outmatched: in their last eight encounters with CSKA, the Leopards have only been defeated by a margin of three goals or more once. The other seven games either saw the southern side winning or losing by a smaller margin.
Over the last two seasons, Sochi have suffered back-to-back defeats by three or more goals on eleven occasions, but in eight of those instances, the streak ended by the third game. The Leopards have been performing well in recent matchups against CSKA, so we'll trust the numbers and go with Sochi to win with a +2.5 handicap.
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Betting Tips: CSKA Moscow - Sochi
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