KHL Odds and Picks (Oct. 15): Bet Salavat Yulaev to Bounce Back vs Kunlun

• Salavat Yulaev is looking to get back in the win column against a struggling Kunlun RS team
• Traktor Chelyabinsk is being listed as a -122 favorite over Severstal Cherepovets
• Find odds and best bets for the KHL’s two-game slate on October 15th in the article below

There are only two games on the slate for Thursday, Oct. 15, in the KHL. Salavat Yulaev will look to get back on track against a struggling Kunlun Red Star squad, while Traktor Chelyabinsk is being listed as a -122 favorite over Severstal Cherepovets.

See the odds and best bets for the two KHL games on Oct. 15 below.

KHL Odds: Thursday, October 15th

Odds as of  Oct. 14th at DraftKings.

Yulaev Will Continue Red Star Dominance 

The clash between Salavat and Kunlun on Thursday is a tale of two teams going in different directions. The Red Star are sporting an ugly 1-12-1 record this season, while Yulaev UFA is contending for position in the Chernyshev division with a much-better 8-1-6 record.

Kunlun being listed as a +255 underdog tells you oddsmakers don’t believe the Red Star has much of a chance at winning this one outright. They’ve managed to keep it close in some of the previous meetings, but Yulaev has won nine of the last 13 head-to-head matchups. They’ll be extra motivated to continue that dominance on Thursday after blowing a two-goal lead in their last game against Barys.

Алексеев ✊ Забрасывает дебютную шайбу в #КХЛ за #HCSalavat и удваивает преимущество в счёте 🏒 2:0 pic.twitter.com/QZ9EYtCbNN

— ХК Салават Юлаев (@hcsalavat) October 12, 2020

There isn’t much value taking Salavat on the moneyline, but you can trust their dynamic offense to win this one by two. They’re one of the highest-scoring teams in the league this season, while the Red Star have been miserable defensively.

Philadelphia Flyers’ forward Mikhail Vorobyev and Dmitry Kugryshev have been on a tear with a combined 11 points in their last five games. Look for them to strike at both even-strength and with the man advantage against Red Star.

Pick: Salavat Yulaev UFA -1.5 (-122)

Traktor and Severstal Will Play Another Tight Game

There’s a common theme that occurs whenever Traktor Chelyabinsk and Severstal Cherepovets clash in the KHL. Both of these squads are middle-of-the-pack in their respective divisions and always play each other tightly. In the last meeting on Sept. 22, goaltender Vladislav Podyapolsky led Severstal to a 1-0 shutout victory.

There’s reason to expect another low-scoring affair on Thursday when you consider that neither of the two squads are lighting up the league offensively. Traktor has surrendered the fewest goals out of any team in its division, primarily due to the impressive goaltending tandem of Ivan Fedotov and Roman Will, who both own a save percentage above .925.

The Cherepovets offense is going to be in tough considering they’ve been limited to two or fewer goals in all but one of their last six games against Traktor. Severstal is a strong defensive team, however, and they know how to keep Traktor’s offensive weapons in check. Tomas Hyka, Sergei Kalinin, and Rangers’ prospect Vitaly Kravtsov lead the way for Chelyabinsk, but they were held to a combined five shots on goal in the last meeting.

Traktor’s offense should put up a few goals in this game, but Severstal never lets these games get out of control. They have a solid goalie tandem of their own in Dmitry Shugayev and Konstantin Shostak, who have allowed a combined three goals in the team’s last two games.

Also look for another big game from Vladislav Provolnev, who played over 20 minutes in the last meeting and will be tasked with shutting down Traktor’s big guns.

Pick: Under 5 (-141)