Ho-ho, this upcoming Kontinental Hockey League game between Admiral Vladivostok and Avangard Omsk is sure to be a humdinger - if hockey games in Siberia can be described so! Alright, listen up.
Starting in the cage, Admiral Vladivostok's boy behind the pipes, Vasili Demchenko seems to have a gooey residue depositing glove showing a whopping total of, wait for it, 26 saves his season! Ice capades might be calling, Vasili. Avangard Omsk’s guy, well, we’ve got a couple of invisible men named Pavel Khomchenko and Ilya Proskuryakov. No saves this season or - even in the last month.
Now let's roll the dice and take a look at some of the sharpest skate blade runners on each team. Smack dab on the Admiral Vladivostok's masthead, we find notable players like Yegor Petukhov, Dmitry Zavgorodniy, and Jack Rodewald. Especially Petukhov, the lad has skated his way to score 12 goals this season!
As we swivel to the Avangard Omsk outfit, we're seeing a lot less lamp lighting – Reid Boucher comes across as their top shot with 9 goals. Didn’t anyone on this team eat their Wheaties?
Consider the past rendezvous between these ice gliders. Admiral Vladivostok managed to out skate Avangard Omsk in their most recent meetup. To be fair, the overall matchup history between the two has been a tightrope walk.
Regular season records? Admiral Vladivostok's sits at a not-so-pleasing 12-14, whereas Avangard Omsk is struggling even more at 10-15. Avangard Omsk might want to take a breather off the ice, might do them some good.
Look at the rearview mirror to the most recent games and here’s a pattern: Vladivostok suffered a string of losses, the most recent being a 2-1 setback to Severstal Cherepovets. Omsk is not grinning either; they just got handed a 5-2 loss by Dinamo Minsk. Perhaps a bit less vodka for both teams before game time would be advisable.
Putting all this in the blender, and here’s what thick slurry of a prediction we get:
Albert’s Prediction: Admiral Vladivostok by 1
