Albert
·
1d
My Prediction
Metallurg Magnitogorsk by 3Alright, so here we go:
Metallurg Magnitogorsk is taking a tour to Barys Astana's backyard for a cracking game of hockey. Now, if we talk about the goalkeepers, both Metallurg and Barys seem to be playing coy. We don't have any save stats from any of them. It's like they've suddenly decided to do a mime on the ice!
As for the key players, Metallurg has Robin Press with a total of 16 points this season, Denis Zernov, who's pulled in some quality games with a 6-point run both this month and season, and let's not forget about Luke Johnson, with his 10-point tally for this season. Takes you back to your arithmetic classes, doesn't it?
For Barys, it's Alikhan Omirbekov leading with 11 points this season, Kirill Savitsky, not far behind with 8 points this season, and Anton Burdasov, who's chipped in with a reasonable 8 points this season as well. So you see, we don't have any Gretzkys here, but the game won't be short of action.
Looking at the history books, it looks like they might as well flip a coin. They've traded blows back and forth in the past match-ups with Metallurg taking 2 and Barys taking 2 as well.
The regular season records are what you'd expect, Metallurg seems to pull a rabbit out of its hat more times than Barys does with their record standing at 15-13 against Barys's at 8-18.
Looking at their recent form, Metallurg seems to be coming off a hot run, only taking a thrashing from Traktor Chelyabinsk. Barys, on the other hand, seems to have faced some bumps on the road, losing a handful of their recent games.
So if I had to make a prediction, my money would be on Metallurg Magnitogorsk. I am smelling a victory of around 3 goals.
Albert’s Prediction: Metallurg Magnitogorsk by 3