SKA St. Petersburg vs CSKA Prediction
📣 The battle for the Gagarin Cup rages on. On Sunday, St. Petersburg will host the fourth match between SKA and CSKA. Can the St. Petersburg team claim their second home victory and level the series? Let's delve into it.
Head-to-Head
In the regular season, the "Army Men" faced each other four times, splitting the victories evenly. However, St. Petersburg held the edge, as both of their wins came in regulation time. When it comes to playoff encounters, CSKA have the upper hand; the last time the Muscovites fell to the "Army Men from Neva" in the postseason was during the 2014/2015 campaign. Overall, the victories are nearly balanced: 57 wins for the hosts and 56 for the visitors. On Friday, SKA managed to close the gap in the series by defeating the Muscovites 1-0. Blandisi and his teammates outshot the capital's hockey players and capitalized on a power play opportunity.
H2H Stats Matches and Previous Teams Results
SKA St. Petersburg Team Overview
SKA didn't have the best regular season, entering the playoffs from just fifth place. However, after Leonid Tambiev's appointment, the "Army Men from the Neva" turned things around, delivering two impressive winning streaks in February and March. They closed out the season with a commanding victory over the Shanghai Dragons (5-1). On home ice, Goldobin and his teammates average 3.06 goals per game, while Savikov and the defense allow opponents to score 2.24 goals per game. Igor Larionov's squad typically starts strong in the opening periods: they've scored in the first twenty minutes in eight of their last nine home matches. The playoffs got off to a rocky start for SKA, but thanks to stellar goaltending from Ivanov and effective power play execution, they managed to narrow the score gap. Defenseman Pavel Koledov did not make it onto the ice for the third game.
Match Results: SKA St. Petersburg
CSKA Moscow Team Overview
CSKA have secured home-ice advantage and made the most of it, with two wins in Moscow boosting the team's morale. However, the Army Men couldn't clinch a third consecutive victory on Friday. Their best chance to equalize came during a 6-on-4 play late in the game, but Andrei Pedan's penalty left Sorkin and his teammates unable to capitalize. Igor Nikitin's squad remains defensively solid, conceding just 1.4 goals on average over the last ten games. It's worth noting that CSKA often ramps up in the second period, scoring at least one goal in eight of their last nine games during this timeframe. Once they gain the lead, Nesterov and his defensive partners typically tighten up the game, though there are exceptions (such as the second match against SKA in Moscow). On Sunday, Provornikov and Kamenev will still be absent from the ice.
Match Results: CSKA Moscow
🏒 Projected Lineups
SKA: Ivanov - Pedan, Zelenov - Khayrullin, Korotkiy, Polyakov
CSKA: Gamzin - Nesterov, Ebert - Kostin, Karnaukhov, Drozdov
🥅 Goalies
Artemiy Pleshkov has shared a similar number of games with his colleague Ivanov, ensuring both are ready to support each other at any moment. We anticipate Ivanov will start his second consecutive game in goal for SKA after stopping all 22 shots from the Moscow team on Friday.
Dmitry Gamzin played 40 games in goal for CSKA during the regular season, boasting an impressive goals-against average of 1.49 and recording 8 shutouts. Dmitry can be substituted by his colleague Samonov at any time. In the third playoff match, Gamzin stopped 28 out of 29 shots from the St. Petersburg team.
⭐ Editorial Prediction
In this series, the hockey players from Saint Petersburg have yet to score more than two goals against Moscow, which leads us to consider a bet on SKA's individual total under 2.5 goals. It's possible that the "Army Men from the Neva" might open the scoring again, but in our view, they won't manage to beat Gamzin more than twice. Overall, we foresee a low-scoring game in CSKA's usual style, as the visitors hold the lead, providing them with a slight psychological edge and room for error.
Betting Tips: SKA St. Petersburg - CSKA Moscow
in last 5 home games (KHL).in last 9 games (KHL).in last 5 away games (KHL).in 8 of last 9 away games (KHL).in 7 of last 8 games (KHL).
