Ak Bars vs Metallurg in the Gagarin Cup semi–finals: when to watch the match, forecasts

Hockey clubs Ak Bars and Metallurg will play in the semi-finals of the Gagarin Cup on April 29. The meeting will be held at the Tatneft Arena stadium in Kazan, starting at 19:30 Moscow time. The history of the confrontation and the forecast for the outcome of the meetings are in the Izvestia material.

The results of the previous games of the teams

Ak Bars and Metallurg went to Kazan after exchanging wins in the first matches of the series in Magnitogorsk. The meetings in the Urals ended with the score 5:2 and 2:4, which actually forced the rivals to start the confrontation anew.

Metallurg won the second game with goals from Roman Kanzerov, Daniil Vovchenko, Nikita Mikhailis and Sergey Tolchinsky. The latter extended his personal scoring streak to three matches, scoring three points (1+2). Artem Galimov and Alexander Khmelevsky scored goals for the Kazan team.

Following the results of the last meetings, Magnitogorsk managed to realize the majority twice in the second match, while Kazan used only one attempt. However, Ak Bars retains its superiority in the current playoff draw in terms of the total percentage of the numerical advantage realized — 25.9% against 23.7% for the Steelers. At the same time, the Ural team is better at neutralizing the opponent's attacks in the minority — 80.0% of successful cases against 71.9% for Kazan.

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The team from Tatarstan also leads the league in the percentage of shots made with a score of 10.09%, while Metallurg has a score of 9.71%. The statistics of the face-offs won by the opponents remains similar: 51.49% for Magnitogorsk and 52.62% for Ak Bars. The Kazan club is significantly ahead of its opponent in terms of the number of power techniques performed — 279 against 215.

The upcoming match could be a landmark for the head coach of the hosts, Anvar Gatiyatulin. The next success in the series will be the specialist's 300th victory in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Regardless of the outcome of the next two meetings in Kazan, the teams are guaranteed to return to Magnitogorsk for at least the fifth game.