SKA Saint Petersburg claimed a 4-3 victory over Traktor Chelyabinsk in their KHL fixture on Thursday. The away side completed six games with five wins and one defeat, while the hosts remain at the bottom of their half of the table after six matches.
Traktor had looked solid in their last outing, beating Avangard 2-1 at home. They followed that with a win against Yekaterinburg and a narrow loss to Kazan, but the run ended here. SKA, meanwhile, had won five of their six — including a 7-2 dismantling of Kunlun and a 1-0 shutout against Sochi — and couldn't afford another slip.
And here's the thing: we had backed the home side. Our prediction gave Traktor a 44 per cent chance of victory. The match went the other way, and by then it was clear SKA never got out of second gear. Their pace on the break told, and Traktor could not keep up.
The result keeps SKA in fifth place on zero points — they have not yet played a game that ended in a draw or overtime loss, so the table reads the same. Traktor stay eleventh, still with zero points after four defeats and two wins. Seven goals between them, but the difference was in the final third.
What this means is that SKA extend their winning streak to five games, while Traktor's momentum from the Avangard win evaporated. The visitors take another step closer to the top half, and the hosts cannot afford another slip if they want to climb.
