Forecast: 3-1
Ak Bars will win due to better selection of players. True, if the team is again struck by the flu epidemic, and even more so bouts of arrogance, then the fifth match cannot be avoided.
Expert
Alexander Drozdetsky: “CSKA will catch one game - one hundred percent”
As an expert of the Ak Bars series, CSKA Sport Today attracted SKA striker Alexander Drozdetsky, who played for both teams.
- Are you going to follow this series?
- Mandatory. I watch all the playoff games.
“If it's not a secret, on whose side are your sympathies?”
- I (laughs), I'm for CSKA. True, if Ak Bars will play in the same way as in previous matches, then it will definitely reach the final. Although CSKA, one hundred percent sure, one game is sure to hook.
- So, in your opinion, there will be no dry run in the series.
- Yes. I think they will play up to four matches. And maybe up to five.
- Can the army team stop the first ...
- (interrupts) For strength! In addition, much more will depend on how goalkeepers play. It can be seen that the outcomes of most matches directly depend on them. Simchuk played great in the quarter finals. And Noronen was good. Even the games in Kazan, where Ak Bars won very convincingly, could have ended differently if not for the Finnish goalkeeper.
- Meanwhile, Simchuk spent a series without a break with Lada and Salavat. Surely after all, pretty tired?
- Everyone can get tired. What if Noronen gets tired? That's why I emphasize that goalkeepers will decide a lot.
- Well, but if the first goalkeeper gets tired of Ak Bars, he can be replaced by Eremenko - the goalkeeper of the national team, by the way.
- Yes, Kazan has Eremenko. So after all, CSKA has another goalkeeper.
- Only young - Kasutin.
- But there is. Although, of course, Ak Bars has an advantage here. But I immediately said that Kazan should go through CSKA. Just because they are above class.
- Army men are often reproached with inability to play on the defensive ...
- As I understand it, CSKA reached the semifinals. And if so, it turns out that the team does not have the most terrible problems in defense. Most others have much more.
- Can you compare the physical condition of your opponents by eye?
- In the quarterfinals, both teams looked fresh enough.
- But CSKA played five matches, and Ak Bars - four.
- Judging by the fifth game, the army team were not so exhausted. And now they are in great shape.
- So you liked CSKA?
- Yes. And in the fifth game especially.
- You played in Ak Bars at Vuitek. Has the team’s handwriting changed since then?
- Of course. Today, Ak Bars is very dependent on the first link. And Zinetula Khaidarovich (Bilyaletdinov) should say thanks to him for such excellent results.
- But CSKA, in the playoffs, should thank Simakov?
- Why? Not only him. There is also Vadim Yepanchintsev. With such a center forward, any link always looks good. I think that now he is one of the best central strikers in the country. Epanchintsev, Zinoviev and ... I can’t remember anymore. By the way, I had a chance to play with both of them.
- Summarize. A series of Ak Bars - CSKA is ...
“... a goalkeeper game.” Also, of course, the first link of Ak Bars. Although the second five of Kazan is very decent. CSKA has a good first three and interesting young guys - Parshin, Nikulin and Shirokov ... You see, it turns out that the advantage of Ak Bars in the attack is not so great. So the series will be interesting. And it will not be easy for anyone. I tell you exactly.
On a note
* In the current championship, the army team lost to Kazan in regular time only one match. One meeting ended in a draw; in another Ak Bars won overtime. CSKA did not lose at home.
* Anastasia Myskina was at the first game of these teams. Interestingly, in the second round of the playoffs, she attended the meeting “Salavat Yulaev” - CSKA, and not, for example, “Chemist” - “Ak Bars”. No conclusions can be drawn here. Just wondering.
* Alexei Kosourov scored two goals against Ak Bars - the best indicator of the team. Last season, Alex, by the way, played in Kazan.
* CSKA goalkeeper Konstantin Simchuk missed three goals from Ak Bars. True, then he defended the gates of the HC MVD. In army uniform, he had not yet come out against the Kazan team.
* Sergei Zinoviev, all three matches with CSKA failed. In the first he left in the third link, in the second he was criticized by Vyacheslav Bykov, and in the third he did not appear on the ice at all. Despite all of the above, Sergey scored the winning goal in overtime and made two more assists ...
* But the most dangerous hockey player for CSKA is the defender Raymond Giroud. On his account three goals.
* The best scorer of the playoffs, Ak Bars player Sergey Zinoviev - 10 points. In second place army player Alexei Simakov - 9 points. Forward CSKA is also the best playoff sniper - 6 goals.
Nikolay FEDORENKO
Alexey Shevchenko