As we look at this riveting tilt between Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and Admiral Vladivostok, we can anticipate quite the show. Let's first dive into the goalkeeper situation. For Torpedo, we have Ivan Kulbakov and Ivan Bocharov, who, between them, haven’t mustered a save this season. Quite charming. Vasili Demchenko is standing tall in the crease for Admiral, having logged 26 saves. A goalkeeper who's actually making saves, now that's a novelty.
Looking at the heavy shooters, Torpedo leans heavily on Maxim Letunov, Nikita Artamonov, and Vasily Atanasov. All three seem as if they've essentially copied their stat sheets from the last month, with Letunov and Atanasov notably racking up 2 and 3 goals respectively.
Admiral, are banking on the assistance of Daniil Gutik and Pavel Shen. Gutik, a pass-first sort of player, has an impressive 10 assists this season and Shen has chipped in with 3 goals, presumably when Gutik has run out of other people to pass to.
The blast from the past match-ups show Torpedo repeatedly sinking Admiral, with wins by 3-0 and 3-1. Yet somehow, Admiral has a glittering 5-1 record this season while Torpedo have found themselves up the creek with a 3-6 record. Miracles do happen apparently.
Looking at the latest results, Torpedo seems to have their compass pointing anywhere but victory, while Admiral has been sailing smoothly, only hitting a minor iceberg against CSKA Moscow.
Considering all this, if the past performance alone was my cousin Silvio's favorite gelato flavor – an unpredictable hodgepodge of results – I'd say we're looking at a surprising outcome in favor of Admiral. However, Torpedo's significant victories over Admiral in the past have me second-guessing this... My cousin Silvio also happens to like mixing flavors. Did I mention he's a confusing guy? Anyway,
Albert’s Prediction: Admiral Vladivostok by 1