"Neftekhimik" - "Ak Bars" Game preview

New Year is coming!

All 3 previous games were hard-battle games. In Kazan, “Ak Bars” won twice (4:1; 3:2), in Nizhnekamsk, “Neftekhimik” won - 4:2.

Teams

"Neftekhimik"

The last game against "Ak Bars" was historical – we won "Ak Bars" in time of our ten game winning-streak. (We won 10 games in a row!) At this moment, "Neftekhimik" is trying to reach playoffs. Each point is important for our team to reach playoffs. The slight differense in points made the second half of the season to be breathtaking in the Eastern Conference.

 

"Ak Bars"

"Ak Bars" is the leader of the conference. The main opponents in the standings for "Ak Bars" are "Avangard", "Barys", "Avtomobilist".

Strong sides of both teams

"Neftekhimik":

In this season our team plays good in attack – our team is in the top 10 league’s teams in terms of scored pucks per game. Nine players of "Neftekhimik" scored more than 10 points in this season.

 

"Ak Bars":

The tactic of "Ak Bars" was concentrated on a defense when Zinetula Bilyaletdinov was a head coach of "Ak Bars". Nothing has changed there when Dmitry Kvartalnov became a new head coach.

 Leaders

Jacob Berglund

Jacob joined our team during the season. It seemed that he fit well in to team. He is a good hard-working forward.

Timur Bilyalov

Timur set a new record of time of shutout. 316 minutes and 9 seconds - this is a new record!

Retro game

It will be a 45th crosstown rivalry!

The 50th crosstown rivalry is so close.