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Barys score five goals per meeting

Vityaz with questionable two key strikers, which could weaken them in already very difficult game

Barys have been relentless. The Kazakh representative in the KHL, together with Medvescak, are probably the biggest surprise in the league. They are currently first in the Eastern conference and have the most effective offense. It's been so from the first round. The only two times they were defeated was by strong SKA and in Zagreb.

It's especially impressive how they scored less than four goals in those two games they lost- After five in Minsk Dinamo's net, they scored four goals in the last round against Spartak, who dominated defense-wise, but they didn't take advantage of any of eight power play chances. Despite that, the excess players' realization is more than solid (second in the league with 27.5 percent). They broke Ufa's record from 2011 of scores number after the first 11 rounds (55).

- I believe we played really well in the away tour. We won three games and grabbed nine points. The problem were numerous penalties. However, we managed to stand for ourselves in those situations. Our goalkeepers were especially good - stated coach Ari-Pekka Selin.

The positive thing for the line up from Astana is that the first offensive trio Boyd-Bochenski-Dawes didn't grab a point in the last meeting, but they scored four goals. It shows how wide their line up is and numerous options they have offense-wise. They also don't tend to shoot a lot towards the goal, but they have great realization.

The latest reinforcement Nik Antropov's play in the team also goes to their advantage. Also, they don't have any problems with injuries. It is expected that Ari Ahonen will defend their goal against Vityaz, whom they had defeated in the preliminary match 4-2. He's been receiving 2.65 goals in average, which is okay, regarding the Barys' offensive style.

Podolsk started winning after three consecutive defeats and they beat Severstal in a home match, who've been in a pretty bad shape and have had problems with injuries, so that win shouldn't be praised a lot. Before that, they lost home matches against strong teams, but always played solid games and didn't give up easily.

The duels against SKA and Lokomotiv came as a reward for great game against Severstal, but they were defeated. Nevertheless, the match against Severstal didn't go smooth, because they were losing until the final third. The away team lead in the first third and several minutes later, they had a chance to tie, but didn't realize the penalty shot. They started playing in the final third, when Pyett scored twice and turned the game, which was then sealed by Afinogenov's score.

- The series of difficult away games is ahead of us and we are aware of it, but we will play our own game no matter who is on the other side. We must play to win every match and try to make it to the play-off zone - said Vityaz's coach Sergej Topol.

They've been conceding 2.75 goals per match in average, which makes them one of the worse defense in the league, and they haven't been exactly brilliant in penalty killing as well, which is at very weak 75 percent and will be a huge problem in this match. Playing with one player less is a big problem, as well as playing with one excess player, and the realization percentage is at weak 5.5 percent.

Two key strikers, Koroljuk and Rybin didn't play the last match and there is no information on whether they will be absent from this one. They are questionable and if they don't play, it will be a huge setback for Vityaz's offense.

Barys went over this margin in all of their wins, and in nine of their eleven matches in total. They are big favourites playing at home against a modest Vityaz team, so I fully expect them to score their average five goals at least. They have the best attack in the league, ahead of mighty SKA, their squad so deep that they score five even when their first line doesn't score a point. They were under this margin at home only against the aforementioned SKA, but went over 5 goals a game in every other match. Vityaz don't have a good defense at all - one of the worst ones in the Western Conference even, so I think that four goals is a minimum they will concede in this match. The two teams have played a preseason match and Barys went over 3.5 goals, so this also looks like an over bet.