SKA St. Petersburg vs AK Bars Kazan Prediction 4 February 2025

🔊 Will the "Army Men from the Neva" manage to take revenge on the Kazan team? For the second time this season, St. Petersburg's SKA will face Ak Bars. This time, the venue for the confrontation will be "SKA Arena". It will be interesting to see if Roman Rotenberg can show tactical flexibility and prevent the "Bars" from capitalizing on their strengths. Let's look at the preliminary predictions from bookmakers: victory for the hosts - 1.95, victory for the guests - 3.4.

📊 H2H

In November last year, Anvar Gatiyatulin's team physically outperformed the "Army Men from the Neva" and won in overtime - 3:2. The previous head-to-head match at "SKA Arena" also ended in success for the "Greens" - 3:2.

🔵 SKA

Roman Rotenberg and company continue to ignore external pressure, demonstrating much more stable results. Despite SKA being in 6th place in the "West", they are only 2 points behind the 2nd position. In the second half of the season, the "Army Men from the Neva" have become more relaxed and are focusing significantly on capitalizing on transitional phases. It is noteworthy that the team from Russia's northern capital remains the most productive in the league - 3.71 goals per game.

🟢 AK BARS

The team from the capital of Tatarstan is rightly considered a formidable force in the "East". Anvar Gatiyatulin has managed to implement a highly effective tactical style based on a combination of rational caution and high-intensity hockey. It is noteworthy that the "Greens" are considered the most effective team in the conference in defense - about 2.32 goals conceded per game. We note Dmitry Yashkin's excellent form. The Czech forward is the 3rd top scorer in the league, with 26 goals to his name. In Ak Bars' infirmary are Egor Babenko, Mitch Miller, and Ilya Safonov.

📌 PROBABLE LINEUPS

SKA: Pleshkov - Yudin, Zaitsev - Demidov, Vorobyov, Akolzin

Ak Bars: Miftakhov - Lyamkin, Marchenko - Terekhov, Semenov, Yashkin

🥅 GOALIES

Artemiy Pleshkov has been proving in recent matches that he deserves a spot in SKA's starting lineup. For the 22-year-old Russian, this season could very well be a breakthrough. Let's look at Pleshkov's average statistics (92.78% save percentage, GAA - 2.5, 1 shutout).

Amir Miftakhov is impeccable in this regular season. The 24-year-old Russian has participated in 25 matches. During this period, he has managed to save 93.97% of shots with a reliability coefficient of 1.73.

📝 MATCH PREDICTION

Roman Rotenberg's team is one of the most entertaining and intriguing in this championship. In 7 out of the last 9 matches involving the "Army Men from the Neva", at least 6 goals were scored. And in 5 out of the last 6 head-to-head meetings between SKA and Ak Bars, there were at least 5 successful shots. Our key bet is total over 5 goals.