The head coach of Avangard, Guy Boucher, spoke before the match against Traktor about the challenges faced by the Omsk team regarding their lineup.

“Since August, we’ve been primarily focused on restructuring our game strategy. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet had the chance to play with our optimal lineup. Volkov and Prokhorkin are currently ill, but we hope they will be back for the next game. We are also expecting Ponomarev and Yakupov to travel with us, and that’s when we should see the whole team at full strength,” said Boucher, according to the Avangard press service.

Avangard is currently positioned third in the standings of the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League.

It’s worth noting that in today’s match against Traktor, two defensemen, Vyacheslav Voynov and Mikhail Gulyayev, will be playing in the forward line for the Hawks.