Dizel — Hc Norilsk: 5:0, VHL

Dizel saw off ХК Норильск 5:0 in the Высшая хоккейная лига on Tuesday. The hosts had not picked up a point from seven games before this one. The visitors carried a recent run of mixed results into the fixture.

By then, the prediction market had leaned the other way. We had offered an away win at 42 per cent confidence. The match overturned that assessment without ceremony.

Dizel's record now stands at two victories and five defeats. They remain bottom of the table with zero points. Norilsk continue to search for their first win of the campaign.

The visitors' recent form had shown glimpses of promise. A 3:2 victory over Буран Воронеж and a 3:0 clean sheet against Омские Крылья suggested they could compete. Those results do not translate into a 5:0 defeat.

And here's the thing about league tables at this stage. Seven games in and every side looks wide open. The gap between worst and best is measured in single digits. This match simply decided who would lead by a point on Wednesday.