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Donbass a definite favorite against Avtomobilist

Avtomobilist do not steer well in Western Conference, while Donbass the home team are on a good rol both score- and gameplay-wise

Donbass continue their marvelous streak of matches winning the fourth game out of five they played. Their only defeat, to Barys, saw great gameplay on their side, but they unfortunately failed to seize all the given opportunities. This is to be their fourth home match in a row, against the weakest team so far.

After trouncing Ugra who did not score a single goal, they excelled against Omsk, against whom they scored four in the first two periods. Donbass started out ferociously, Omsk got disoriented, and by the 16th minute the match was all but resolved. In the remaining two periods, they scored two more, improving their averages, and confirming the outcome. They did not score any goals in powerplay in spite of having 5 opportunities to do it, but defended all six Omsk´s odd man situations

They are currently ranked fifth, and todays victory would push them up to an excellent third place on the table of Western Conference. They confirmed all optimists that foretold them a great season. Reinforcing the team during the summer, bolstering all lines, and now they apperar one of the favorites for the top position in the west. For now their defenses look strong, they concede very few goals, a little more than two in average, and their boxplay is also very high (87%).

- The players are doing what I tell them and that makes me happy. This is the reason for our good score, we were great on the defense, and we started out fantastically. We approach each match equally, and strive to win no matter the opponents, and such a shape we are in I believe we can beat any club in the league. - Donbass coach Andrei Nazarov said.

They still lack Kagarlitsky, Kiiskinen and Pettersson, who are out for so long that it is not really an handicap. They beat their today’s opponents twice in the last season, and since they are playing on their home ice, they are again the favorites.

The Yekaterinburg team are aware what a difficult match is in front of them, since they are not in top shape, with their offensive play the biggest issue. The Zagreb match only proved this. Their overall appearance is not that bad, but Avtomobilist have for a while now been unable to score a goal. E.g. against Medvescak they shot 32 and still scored 0. They allowed the Croatian club 21 shots and they scored a goal per period, for Yekaterinburgs third defeat in the last 4 rounds.

- We did not get any real chances to score. Our opponents took every opportunity, the last goal was our own fault and I must congratulate them for winning - coach Anatoliy Yemalin said. His dissatisfaction with his team is even greater since they had 5 power playsthat they did not take advantage of .

Nothing strange, Avtomobilist usually have a tough time scoring in power plays. They scored two goals in 40, a negligible 5% average. The fact that they are the most disciplined team in the league does not add up to much. What is worse, they were unable to score a single goal in two games and in 60 shots at the goal. If Spartak game is taken in to account they did not score for a whopping 150 minutes..

For the Donbass match I expect Yevgeni Lobanov as the goalie, after Jakub Kovars´ unimpressive performance in Zagreb

Of their seven wins, Donbass had only two which weren't won by a spread and Avtomobilist had lost only once in six times with less than two goals difference. Of course, it is not the only reason. Avtomobilst haven't scored a goal for two matches and they lost by spread in Minsk and Zagreb where they didn't have as strong opponents as today. In the last four matches they have three losses and they are at least a level, if not two, behind Donbass in quality. The home team are in excellent shape, they have four wins in last five matches and that one loss was against the powerful Barys although in that match they were realistically the better team as well. The most important thing is that all of those four last wins were in spread against stronger teams than Avtomobilist is. The away team lost Belanger two matches ago and he was their only star of the team and I think they have no chance at all here. Donbass has the advantage in all aspects, their performance is at its peak and, lastly, last season they won against Avtomobilist here with spread. The coefficient definitely has a very high value and must be taken.