HC Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk beat AKM 3:1 in the VHL on September 6th. The match ended with the hosts taking all three points at home. It was Yugra's second game of the campaign and they picked one up last week, just as they did here. The scoreline reflected a straightforward evening for the Khanty-Mansiysk side.
Yugra sit eighth in the table after two games, one win and one loss. AKM, meanwhile, have played zero matches and sit twenty-ninth on zero points. That gap tells you something about where each club finds itself before the season really gets going. By then, AKM will have had to work their way into the competition proper.
We called for a home win at 70 per cent confidence, and the result backed that up. It wasn't a surprise — Yugra have been solid at home and AKM were out of sight by the final whistle. The prediction held up because the hosts carried the side through the first two periods.
What matters is the momentum Yugra build from this. They beat Ryzan 2:1 on September 4th before losing to Metallurg Novokuznetsk 0:2. AKM's recent form reads differently — they've played friendlies against teams like Dynamo St Petersburg and Orsk, but this was their first proper VHL fixture.
Two points now separate Yugra from the pack, and they'll want to extend that. AKM face a mountain to climb from nothing on the board. The table goes out of the window in these games, but Yugra know the value of starting clean.