Thanks a lot - there are tickets even for December games! That's really good. Will make my job a lot easier.
On the topic of play-off, I believe that Medvescak still have a lot to do in order to secure play-off. Everything can still change just in a week or with three games and %90 of stuff we are to talk here is just hypothetical but I believe that the next away tour will be quite decisive.
Loko, CSKA, Jokerit, Dynamo Moscow and Torpedo are almost %100 so we have 3 play-off spots left. Even though they don't seem to be delivering, I believe SKA will somehow find their way so let's say, we have 2 spots now. The canditates are Sochi, Vityaz, Spartak, Riga, Minsk, Severstal, Medvescak and Slovan.
Personally, I would take Severstal and Riga out. Vityaz is not a threat at the moment, either. So I would say, for those 2 or maybe 3 spots, those teams will fight: Sochi, Medvescak, Slovan, Minsk, Spartak. Here are how many home & away games left for each team,
Medvescak has
7 home and
17 away games left.
Sochi has
15 home and
12 away games left.
Slovan has
9 home and
15 away games left.
Minsk has
14 home and
12 away games left.
Spartak has
14 home and
13 away games left.
As you can see, Medvescak and Slovan has the fewest numbers at home. Sure, being away doesn't necessarily mean that you will fail, but I would trust numbers here: Medvescak averages
1.69pts at home and
1.07pts away. This may seem little but in 10 games, would make a 6.2pts of difference.
As I said, this is all hypothetical at the moment and a 3-game streak can change it all; but taking some facts and schedule into consideration, I'd say Sochi, Minsk and Spartak are just a little step ahead of Medvescak now.
The good thing is, Medvescak doesn't need results from other teams. If they do well, they will simply get into top 8 with no fuss. That's why I believe this next tour will be quite decisive about play-off chances,
Nov 29 @ Avtomobilist
Dec 01 @ Yugra
Dec 03 @ Avangard
Dec 05 @ Barys
Anything above 6pts must be satisfying. Less is not good enough.