Ah, what a juicy matchup we've got here, folks - Spartak Moscow at Dynamo Moscow. A classic cross-town clash. These boys might as well walk to the game, eh?
Between the pipes, both teams seem to have goalkeepers who have mastered the rare 'ghost puck' technique with Dmitri Nikolayev and Patrik Rybar for Spartak and Yevgeni Yaroslavlev and Maxim Motorygin for Dynamo. By this I mean they've saved a whopping zero shots this past month and season overall. A bit concerning if you ask me, but hey, a breakaway might just turn into a Britney Spears concert around here because you'll notice everyone trying to 'hit me baby one more time'.
On to our skaters. For Spartak, we've got some decent play from Andrei Mironov and Ivan Morozov up front, while Mikhail Maltsev has a knack for racking up the goals. Dynamo Moscow seems to be banking heavily on the prowess of Nikita Gusev and Yegor Rimashevskiy. Cedric Paquette looks like he could swing a stick around too without poking someone's eye out.
Looking back at some old grudges, in the past five meetups, Spartak apparently had the more colorful jersey since they attracted the puck more, logging in more victories against Dynamo.
In terms of street cred, Spartak seems to wear a bigger chain around their necks with 9 wins against 5 losses for the season, while Dynamo isn't exactly the belle of the ball with 7 wins and 8 losses.
Recently, there's been a bit of turbulence for both teams. Spartak and Dynamo seem to enjoy rollercoasters as both teams have been riding an up and down journey of wins and losses.
Now, let's get to the nitty-gritty. Even though the stats suggest Spartak has the superior track record, do keep in mind that the game isn't played on paper. Bearing everything into account, however, it seems safe to assume that Spartak might continue their winning streak against Dynamo given their performance, though it'd likely be a nail-biter.
Albert’s Prediction: Spartak Moscow by 2