Avangard Omsk vs Barys Astana Prediction 31 January 2025

🔊 Will the "Hawks" apologize to their fans with a home victory? Recently, the Omsk team, under the leadership of Guy Boucher, suffered their first home defeat - against Salavat Yulaev (2:4). It is also disappointing that this setback was their 3rd in the last 4 matches. This coming Friday presents a great opportunity for redemption - a match against the worst team in the "East". Bookmakers predict a convincing success for the Omsk team: Avangard's victory - 1.38, Barys' victory - 7.5.

📊 H2H

The upcoming meeting between Avangard and Barys will be the 4th this season. Previously, the "Hawks" achieved success twice (4:0, 3:2 OT), while the "Lynxes" managed it only once (1:0). It's worth noting that in the last 9 head-to-head matches at the "G-Drive Arena," the home team always secured a victory.

🔴 AVANGARD

It seems KHL teams are gradually adapting to Guy Boucher's North American style. The recent encounter with Salavat Yulaev (2:4) demonstrated several challenges that the "Hawks" will definitely face. The Omsk team simply lacks endurance for 60 minutes. The first and second periods of the last home match were suspiciously similar to what Avangard experienced during Sergey Zvyagin's coaching period - a large number of power plays, lack of creativity in attack, and lack of compactness in defense. Key personnel losses for the Omsk team include injuries to Michael McLeod, Nikolai Prokhorkin, Alexei Solovyov.

🔵 BARYS

The Astana team is one of the main underperformers of the current KHL season. It is quite clear that the "Lynxes" are not fighting for anything at this stage of the season, as they are 22 points away from the playoff zone. Their appalling effectiveness in away games is also disappointing - 13 points after 25 games. Moreover, it is Galym Mambetaliyev's team that is characterized by the worst attack in the league - only 1.36 goals per game. The Kazakh team's hockey is based on playing as the second number, focusing on defense, and quite straightforward transitions from defense to attack.

🔗 PROBABLE LINEUPS

Avangard: Serebryakov - Chistyakov, Sharipzyanov - Boucher, Spooner, Fiore

Barys: Boyarkin - Daniyar, Beketayev - Savitsky, Nikolin, Setdikov

🥅 GOALIES

Nikita Serebryakov is a key figure for the current Avangard. With Guy Boucher's arrival at the club, the 29-year-old goalie has become an indispensable part of the North American coaching staff. In the current regular season, he played 18 matches. During this period, Serebryakov saved 92.65% of shots with a reliability coefficient of 2.43.

Nikita Boyarkin is probably the most stable player for Barys this season. Despite the atrocious defensive actions of the Astana team, the 26-year-old goalie managed to keep his goal intact three times this season. Let's pay attention to other statistical indicators (92.85% saved shots, GAA - 2.25).

📝 MATCH PREDICTION

Despite the recent defeat of the "Hawks" by Salavat Yulaev (2:4), things are going well for the Omsk team. It's important to consider that this was their 3rd meeting with the Ufa team under Guy Boucher's leadership, and Viktor Kozlov simply managed to adapt to the Canadian specialist's style. Barys is one of the worst teams this season in terms of game quality, as evidenced by several statistical indicators. Our bet is Avangard's victory with a handicap (-1.5).