Torpedo vs. Ak Bars: KHL Match Prediction

Current form

Ak Bars has embarked on a restructuring this year after the failure of the previous season. Indeed, few expected that the club would only finish fourth in the regular season and then be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Head coach Bilyaletdinov immediately left the club after the failure, and Gatiyatulin, who had shown good results at Traktor, was appointed in his place. Serious changes affected not only the coaching bridge, but also the roster as a whole, with a large number of star and expensive players leaving, such as Radulov, Shipachev, Galiev, Voynov, and Kagarlitsky. The Bars decided to focus on young and promising players.

During the pre-season training, the team's roster changed frequently. However, in the end, the club's performance can be called successful: five wins in seven matches. In the opening match of the regular championship, Kazan immediately held a "green derby" against the powerful Salavat Yulaev, which managed to preserve its core and was further strengthened in the summer. Despite this, the "green derby" was tense, and Kazan gave a serious rebuff to its archrival. If not for the weak play in defense, they would have had a chance to win.

Interesting trends for betting

• Ak Bars averaged 3.3 goals per game during the preseason

This year, Ak Bars will try to move away from Bilyaletdinov’s tactics and will rely on the attacking line, which the team has already demonstrated in the first match of the regular championship.

• Ak Bars conceded an average of two goals per game during the preseason

Ak Bars showed good defensive play and the team often managed to hold back the opponent's pressure.

Estimated composition

Bilyalov, Miller, Yudin, Yashkin, Petan, Barabanov, Yarulin, Lyamkin, Koshelev, Semenov, Korshkov, Marchenko, Zhuravlev, Terekhov, Safonov, Galimov, Evseev, Babenko, Katelevsky, Krutov.