Lokomotiv Yaroslavl - Torpedo N. Novgorod predictions and free betting tips [09/10/2023]

Continental Hockey League regular tournament 2023/2024. The second match of the game day will be the battle for first place in the Western conference. Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl will host Torpedo from Nizhny Novgorod at home.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

The leader of the Western conference stumbled in the past weeks, rather unexpectedly, in overtime against Dynamo Minsk. It seemed that Lokomotiv had built such momentum that nobody could stop them, but Dynamo found the key to victory. However, Yaroslavl had won 9 out of their last 10 matches. At the moment, Lokomotiv is in second place in the conference with 10 wins in regular time and one beyond, and one defeat with one point, precisely the last one with Minsk, in addition to that, Lokomotiv lost three more matches in regular time and after 15 matches got 23 points. Lokomotiv also has a score difference of 16. They don't score much, only 44 goals, but they concede even less, the least among the Western teams, exactly 28 goals. So, in fact, Lokomotiv proves themselves to be the best defensive team in the West.

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod

And here Lokomotiv will play against arguably one of the most offensive teams in the league at the moment and the leader of the Western conference. Torpedo has so far scored 52 goals, only Severstal and Spartak have scored more in the West – 53 and 56 respectively, but Torpedo concede much better than these teams, merely 32 goals, which while not record stats, at least offers Torpedo first place in the league table with 23 points after 15 games. Torpedo gained this through 3 defeats in regular time, one beyond, one victory in extra time, and most importantly, ten wins in regular time. The last clash with Dynamo Moscow proved particularly epic, which was also the match for first place in the West; Torpedo left no chance for the opponent, crushing them with the score 7:1. Just a week ago it seemed Torpedo was having problems, yet the last two matches have proved the opposite, Torpedo is still very good and still playing the same attacking hockey that their fans love.

Head-to-Head 

Lokomotiv and Torpedo have had 50 matches against each other. Of these, 26 wins remained with Lokomotiv and Torpedo trails slightly with 24 victories. This year, Torpedo managed to defeat Lokomotiv in the initial season match with a score of 5:2.

Prediction

Interestingly, according to Betsity, Lokomotiv is the apparent favourite, betting odds for their victory is 2.18, whereas odds for Torpedo's victory are equal to merely 3.10. Here, focusing on the teams' last match and head-to-head meeting, I would risk placing a bet on Torpedo, simply because of the odds, yet there is a more reliable outcome.

Total

In my view, it is TO (4.5) for 1.90. Even if both clubs concede a little, in recent matches they have been scoring quite a bit, thus in a direct match, they could please fans with at least five goals combined.