On March 19, 2018 at 19:00 in Yaroslavl at Arena-2000 the 3rd match of the quarterfinal series of the Gagarin Cup between Lokomotiv and SKA will take place.

In the first match, the army team confidently won 4:0. In the second match, Lokomotiv rallied and gave a real fight to the formidable opponent and. With an equal score, the series moves to Yaroslavl, where the teams will play on March 19 and 20.

Before this series, the question was asked rather modestly and timidly: would Lokomotiv be able to prevent the most anticipated final of the Western Conference. The first match in St. Petersburg completely muted such questions. SKA completely outplayed Lokomotiv and this series potentially began to look like an easy ride for SKA.

But the second match somewhat changed the idea of ​​this series. And now the question is “Will Lokomotiv be able to get past SKA?” sounds in full voice.

Lokomotiv played the 2nd period of this victorious match in an exemplary manner. The railroad workers won the 2nd period with a score of 2:0 and outscored the opponent 21-6. Oleg Znarok said at a press conference after the match that the team was let down by a large number of deletions. In general, a strange situation for matches involving SKA. Usually, opponent players are removed en masse.

In the third period, Lokomotiv defended almost constantly and Alexander Sudnitsin played beyond all praise. So, Lokomotiv’s victory can be written down by the formula - victory equals the second period plus Sudnitsyn.

But can Lokomotiv really claim to be the team that stopped SKA. To be honest, I want to believe it. But hardly.

Yaroslavl hockey players will fight. But I think that they don’t have enough experience, including cup experience. Dmitry Kvartalny has an extremely young team. Average age Lokomotiv hockey players are 23 years old.

Defenders Kronwall, Kutuzov, Nakladal, forwards Kontiola, Talbot, Averin, Apalkov, Loktionov, Kozun. Here are experienced hockey players who have good experience in the playoffs. But Brendan Kozun can probably be crossed off the list. Kvartalnov is clearly not happy with his performance. In the second match of the series, 17-year-old Grigory Denisenko was included in the lineup instead of him.

Will Sudnitsin be able to “drag” like that again? Will Lokomotiv be able to play so reliably in the minority? Will SKA have so many deletions again?

These are the important questions, the impact on the results. And the answers to them are most likely not in favor of Lokomotiv.

SKA

Since the very first match of the regular season, SKA has been taking confident steps towards its next Gagarin Cup. Long before the end of the regular championship, its winner was determined. And many, after the first couple of months of the season, no longer had doubts about the winner of the regular championship, and the Gagarin Cup too.

In the regular season, this team was head and shoulders above everyone else. Then she became more. I wonder if the KHL will ever introduce a salary cap like in ? Since the KHL is built in the likeness of this league. “Then take everything from there,” I want to tell the functionaries. In the NHL, the match, for example, between the outsider Arizona and the favorite Tampa Bay, does not go so that the Tampa Bay hockey players, barely moving on the court, throw 5-6 pucks lightly. With Arizona, with Buffalo, any favorite needs to resist, show and prove their high level. Therefore, the NHL is much more attractive to viewers. Not only for this reason. But that’s not what we’re talking about now.

And now Lokomotiv surprised the army team and the entire hockey community. Or maybe SKA will not complete this path victoriously.

But objectively, SKA has more chances in this series and in the Yaroslavl matches as well. Oleg Znark has an extremely experienced team. And not just one or two links, but all links. And there is Pavel Datsyuk. This player commands only respect. Ilya Kovalchuk, undoubtedly one of the strongest hockey players in the KHL. By the way, next season he will go to the NHL.

Odds and forecast

Bookmakers offered such a line for this match.

Bookmakers rate Lokomotiv a little better than in the regular season. In the regular championship, they gave more than four to home Lokomotiv. But everything is obvious and understandable in this regard. Lokomotiv's victory in the last match lowered this coefficient.

I would like Lokomotiv to win and the odds for its victory are still too high, even taking into account the above circumstances. But after the defeat, SKA will play more collectedly and try to prevent periods of play similar to the second period of the second match. I very much doubt that SKA will concede 3 goals. Therefore, in my opinion, the most optimal bet for the match is Lokomotiv’s individual total is less.

Forecast IT1M2 1.82 ()

Who has an opinion on this match, on the further development of this series? Write in the comments.

SKA and Lokomotiv are not synonymous with bright hockey!

SKA is now on the move, there was an excellent series of victorious meetings, they stumbled a little at Avangard and are back on the track of success. They throw a lot, miss a little. Over the previous 10 games, five were 0-0 in own goal, this is very cool for hockey!

The locomotive is stalling, I don’t even remember any outstanding match. There was something similar in Yekaterinburg with Avtomobilist, but they couldn’t play like that the whole match and went out in the third period. This month, victories are won by one goal or in overtime.

Forecast

I’ll say right away that it can be everything, at least 6-6 in 60 minutes. But you can’t argue with statistics if you take the previous 10 face-to-face meetings, then only once did TB5.5 break through. Basically, the games between them are playoff-type, closed, with a lot of power and few pucks. The locomotive will try to close all doors, windows and vents, and SKA must work reliably in its zone. I'm waiting here for no more than 4 abandoned ones, TM5 is my choice.

The main sign of today's game day in the KHL, without a doubt, is the confrontation between Lokomotiv and SKA in Yaroslavl. Who will win in such an important fight?

Locomotive

Lokomotiv played eight matches this season, winning six and losing only twice. Such results allow Dmitry Kvartalnikov’s team to occupy second position in the West. The Railwaymen show excellent attacking hockey, however, recent meetings The players show some fatigue and lack of composure. Most recently, Loko lost to Dynamo Minsk (1:2) at home, and in the last meeting they showed strong will and snatched victory from Vityaz Podolsk with a score of 4:3. As for the upcoming match, Lokomotiv clearly does not intend to lose in Yaroslav in front of its fans, however, the opponent will be very strong, and whether the railway workers have enough physics and emotions is a big question.

SKA

The St. Petersburg team changed their head coach and lost several key players in the offseason, however, the club does not intend to give up its leading position in the KHL. The start of the new KHL season turned out to be a failure by SKA standards: two defeats in the first three rounds. Nevertheless, Ilya Vorobyov’s players have improved their play, which is confirmed by their five-game winning streak. Undoubtedly, the “CSKA” team is still far from its peak, but there are clearly significant improvements in the game and the mood of the players, which is especially confirmed by the last two away victories of SKA over Severstal (5:0) and Dynamo Moscow (4:0). Among the St. Petersburg players, it is worth highlighting Nikita Gusev, who in recent meetings gave five assists at once, and also rose to first place in the scorers table, having 12 performance points to his credit.

Statistics and personal meetings

• SKA won five games in a row.
• Lokomotiv won six out of seven matches.
• Lokomotiv concedes at least three goals during three head-to-head matches.

Forecast

The matches between Lokomotiv and SKA are a real treat for all hockey fans: both teams are among the best in the KHL and show very strong play on both sides of the ice. The match will take place at Arena 2000 in Yaroslavl, which gives Lokomotiv an advantage, however, in recent matches the railway workers do not look as confident as before. In turn, the St. Petersburg “army team” has finally adjusted their game and are ready to continue their victorious march. My prediction is a victory for SKA, taking into account the total goals scored over 3.5 with odds of 2.2 in the bookmaker

In the current championship, Lokomotiv and SKA have already exchanged away victories. Who will be stronger in the upcoming fight? We believe that Ilya Vorobyov’s team will celebrate their victory!

Team form

The Yaroslavl club continues to leave the best impression with its play. In the last eight matches, the “railwaymen” managed to win seven victories, three of them with a “dry” score. It is especially worth noting how Dmitry Kvartalnov’s charges were able to play against the Moscow army team, allowing them to create virtually nothing at their own goal. Surprisingly, Lokomotiv shows such high-quality results in the absence of Petri Kontiola and Andrei Loktionov, who are the most important players in the attack line. Young players who represented the Russian team at the World Championships in Vancouver also continue to be absent. 15 games before the end of the regular season, the Yaroslavl team occupy fourth place in the Western Conference standings, and with such a game they can look to the future with optimism.

With the matches in Yaroslavl, Ilya Vorobyov’s team will complete one of the most difficult away series of the season. It all started before the new year in the Far East, where the army team economically outplayed Kunlun, Amur and Admiral. Having rested during the New Year's break, the St. Petersburg club went to Minsk, where they also lazily beat the local Dynamo. The awakening of SKA players began in Helsinki, where Ilya Vorobyov’s team confidently beat the Finnish Jokerit - 4:1. After this, the army team went to Yekaterinburg for a match with the leader of the Eastern Conference Avtomobilist: a bright and uncompromising battle was expected, but in fact the SKA hockey players made the score 6:0 and went to the final away match with a sense of accomplishment.

History of personal meetings

Within KHL teams held 40 face-to-face meetings with each other. The Yaroslavl club has 16 victories, and the army team was stronger in 24 cases. The goal difference is also on the side of the St. Petersburg team – 97:71. In the current championship, the rivals played two personal meetings: in Yaroslavl the SKA hockey players were stronger - 2:0, and in St. Petersburg the Lokomotiv players celebrated their victory - 1:0.

Bets and forecasts

Both clubs are approaching the head-to-head confrontation with a series of excellent results: the railroad workers have won seven of their last eight matches, and the army team has six wins in a row. At the same time, the clubs played their previous games on the same day, only Ilya Vorobyov’s team confidently won after the first period and calmly brought the matter to victory, then Lokomotiv had to play and defend the winning score, without thinking about the upcoming match. Based on this, there is reason to believe that in head-to-head competition the players of the St. Petersburg club will be much fresher than their opponents. In addition, playing active defense for one match is difficult, but maintaining two games in a row at this pace is much more difficult. Considering that in Yaroslavl Lokomotiv has not been able to beat the army team for nine games in a row, we can assume that this time the victory will go to Ilya Vorobyov’s team. You can place a bet on SKA’s victory in the BC “1xBet” with odds of 1.82.

For SKA, the most important task in the upcoming match will be to score an early goal, which will allow them to continue to play from the defense and look for free areas of the opponent. The longer the “railroad workers” manage to hold back the enemy’s attacks, the more difficult it will be for Ilya Vorobyov’s charges to open their defense. That is why a very likely development of events in this game will be a quickly scored puck. Even if the SKA players fail to open the scoring, the Yaroslavl team will catch them on a counterattack and take advantage of the free zones. You can bet on the fact that the first goal in the match will be scored from the first to the tenth minute inclusive in the 1xBet bookmaker with odds of 1.91.

On September 22 in Yaroslavl there will be KHL match between local Lokomotiv and SKA from St. Petersburg. The hosts are in second place and the guests are in fourth place in the Western Conference. Let's make a forecast for the match between Lokomotiv and SKA and place our bet in the bookmaker.

Kvartalny's players are having a very good part of the season. At the start of the championship, Lokomotiv hockey players won 5 matches and lost 2. The most interesting thing is that the railway workers suffered defeats at home. And if the loss to Avangard with a score of 0-4 can still be explained by a combination of fatal circumstances, then the defeat by Dynamo Minsk looks very strange.

Between these games, Lokomotiv held 5 meetings, and celebrated victories in all of them. The victory over Siberia with a score of 5-0 was especially impressive. Here the hosts dominated throughout the match. The Yaroslavl team made 40 shots on target, while the opponent made only 17. In this match, all five players looked good. Only the second five did not score goals. The rest did it. Kontiola scored with a brace.

The away meeting with CSKA turned out to be very good. Already in the second period, the Yaroslavl club led with a score of 3-0. Here the first line distinguished itself, scoring 2 goals. The most that the Muscovites managed was to score a single goal. They transferred the guests, but realized scoring chances they couldn't.

Let's pay attention to the performance of Lokomotiv hockey players. Yaroslavl has one of the best defenses in the KHL. The club conceded only 11 goals in 7 matches. Very often in team matches less than 5 goals are scored. Achieving a comfortable advantage for themselves, the Yaroslavl team brings the matches to a victorious end.

SKA

The St. Petersburg club has the same number of points as their opponent. Only because of the worse goal difference, SKA is located lower in the standings.

In the previous 4 matches, Vorobyov’s team won victories. Moreover, in a recent meeting with Severstal they won a convincing victory with a score of 5-0. Let's highlight the first link, which scored 4 goals. Yakupov and Hersley scored a double. SKA's advantage in shots on target was 28-20.

Previously, SKA met with Spartak and won a minimal victory with a score of 2-1. Here again the defense acted confidently, preventing the opponent from attacking from advantageous positions. The meeting between SKA and Jokerit turned out to be more tense. Here the teams had to play in extra time. The St. Petersburg residents turned out to be more fortunate. They scored the decisive goal and the score became 4-3.

SKA finished most of their matches with a total of less than 5.5. IN Lately The team's defense looks very confident.

Game forecast

At the moment the teams are in good shape. If we look at the statistics of personal meetings, we can see that in the last 7 matches the teams scored less than 6 goals. Considering that Lokomotiv's defense is one of the best now, then a bet on a total of less than 5.5 seems like a passable bet.

Our bet and forecast: TM(5.5) with odds of 1.6.