Rivals SKA St. Petersburg and Dynamo Moscow will clash for a Gagarin Cup final place and win their KHL Western Conference semifinals with ease, Slovakia coach Vladimir Vujtek predicted Tuesday.
SKA will play Atlant Moscow Region, last year’s beaten Gagarin Cup finalists, while Dynamo will take on Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod when the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals start Tuesday.
“Atlant isn’t what it was last year, and SKA’s team is more powerful. That’s why I don’t think SKA will have any problems,” Vujtek told RIA Novosti.
Vujtek said he expected Dynamo, which he coached in the 2008-09 season, to beat Torpedo, although the margin of victory would be tighter.
“Dynamo is the second team on points in the West. They are stronger in this series.”
Torpedo’s main strength was goaltender Vitaly Koval, who saved 34 shots in Torpedo’s quarterfinal decider win against Dynamo Riga on Saturday, he said.
“Torpedo’s goaltender Koval is playing well and he’s the chance for the Nizhny Novgorod team. They can take one or two games because of Koval, but no more.”
He predicted more competitive series in the Eastern Conference.
“The games will be even. Overall, it may be that both series go for seven games.”
Regular season champion Traktor Chelyabinsk has been drawn against Ak Bars Kazan, which knocked out Gagarin Cup holder Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the quarterfinal, but Vujtek said that the absence of Ak Bars’ ex-NHL wing Aleksey Morozov game Traktor the edge.
“If everyone was healthy in both teams, there’d be no favorite in the Ak Bars and Traktor series. The only thing is that Kazan are very significantly without Aleksey Morozov, and because of that Traktor has a higher chance.”
“They’ll be the favorite. But there will be six or seven games there anyhow.”
In the other Eastern Conference series, Vujtek said that Metallurg Magnitogorsk would not be weakened by its 4-3 quarterfinal win over Barys Astana, even though semifinal opponent Avangard Omsk had six more days to rest after a 4-0 win against Amur Khabarovsk.
“The fact that Metallurg played seven games in the first series decides nothing, they won’t have any problems because of that,” he said.
“Avangard had more rest, but emotionally Magnitogorsk are better prepared. Although it seems to me that Avangard will win.”
Vujtek coached Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the 2010-11 KHL season, and has also had spells with Ak Bars and Dynamo Moscow. His son, also named Vladimir Vujtek, played in the NHL for the Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta Thrashers.
