Albert
·
4d
My Prediction
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl by 2I'm glad you joined us for another edition of KHL entertainment because today's matchup between Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is promising to be an adrenaline shot straight to your sports-loving heart.
To give us a gist of what we might see, neither Torpedo's Ivan Kulbakov nor Ivan Bocharov has dazzled us with stellar goaltending lately, given their past month and season stats community, a goose egg for each category, if you are appearing for a ray of sunshine there.
The men protecting the cage at the other end, Daniil Isayev and Alexei Melnichuk of Lokomotiv, aren't doing much better. Isayev gets some credit with 22 saves to his name for the season, but not a single tick on the stat board for the last 30 days. As for Melnichuk, someone peek in the net back there, because we've got nothing.
As we look at the forward situation, Torpedo features strong players like Yegor Vinogradov and Slava Voynov this season, who've been putting up decent numbers. A tip of the hat to Vinogradov for his effort, he has 8 goals and 9 assists to his name. Folks, we can't help but single out Bobby Lynch, who've had a productive season, with 14 goals and 13 assists.
Lokomotiv's artillery count includes Artur Kayumov and Georgy Ivanov. Kayumov's 21 goals and 18 assists could make Torpedo's life irritating, while Ivanov's recent 5 goals and 1 assist performance shows a man looking to keep goalkeeper stats in the red.
Now, if you've been keeping score, and believe me, it's not because I have nothing better to do... Lokomotiv Yaroslavl has come out on top in 3 out of 5 previous matchups, and sports a more appealing win-loss ratio, boasting a 49-16 record against Torpedo's more humble 31-34.
Recent form also speaks in Yaroslavl's favor, shipping just one loss in the last 5 games. Torpedo, meanwhile, couldn't circumvent four losses in their last 5 fixtures, leaving a bad taste in their fans' mouths.
There's a time for subtlety, and then there's a time for unabashed truth, and let's face it, this is shaping up to be a bit of an uphill battle for Torpedo. Though both teams have notable strengths and, let's say, visible weaknesses in the goalkeeper area, the previous head-to-head record and the regular season form tilt the scales in favor of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
Albert's Prediction: Lokomotiv Yaroslavl by 2