Columbus and Florida meet in the NHL’s afternoon game.
Patrik Laine has been out of the last games due to illness. Will the Finn return to the basket on Sunday? AOP / USA TODAY Sports
The most interesting game of the day
A quite interesting NHL match has been packed for Sunday night in Finnish terms in advance, when Jarmo Kekäläinen managed by and Patrik Laine star-studded Columbus hosts Florida strengthened by four Finns.
However, Laine’s playing condition can bring a small notch to the Finnish representation in the match, as the attacker has been sidelined for his team’s three previous matches due to a flu. Laine’s playing in tonight’s match has not been confirmed.
All the Finnish stars of the away team Florida, on the other hand, are fit to play. Florida’s Finns have been in the best scoring streak lately after their minor injury, hitting 3+5=8 in seven matches Alexander Barkov and recently excelled with two assists in a 3–1 win against Pittsburgh Anton Lundell.
The team’s rise last spring Eetu Luostarinen we are still waiting for the bleeding to be at its best. Luostarinen, who is still getting a lot of playing time, last scored a goal against Pittsburgh.
Florida’s fourth Finn, defender Niko Mikkola in addition to reliable defensive work (in the team’s +/- statistics, fifth with a balance of +9) is also the second most effective team in his team with points of 3+7.
In terms of momentum, Florida is neck and neck in this matchup after winning three of their four games in December. Columbus’ balance from December is two wins from five matches.
On the goal-scoring side, the statistics showed that Columbus is currently the worst performing team in the series. The expected goal ratio of its December matches is only 40.18%, taking into account all game situations. In that sample, Florida is sixth with a reading of 56.35%. The difference between the groups is huge.
When Columbus is heavily burdened by Laine’s possible absence in this match as well as other absences, Florida, which gets into tonight’s match with the best possible lineup, should be considered practically the favorite despite the away field.
On Columbus’ absentee list are the number one goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikinsdefenders Erik Gudbranson, Adam Boqvist and Damon Severson and attackers Boone Jenner, Jack Roslovic and Cole Sillinger. The team’s flu situation may also bring additional surprises to the evening’s line-up – one way or the other.
From Florida, it is worth noting that the team’s star defenders, who suffered from long injuries and made a comeback a few weeks ago Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour have already gotten to grips with the team’s game system better, even though neither of them has accumulated much power yet. Materially, Florida is currently one of the top teams in the NHL.
In terms of betting, Veikkaus is so alert to the match that it offers Florida the market’s lowest (1.60) odds for a direct regular-time win. Still, the best bets of the match can now be found on the side of the away team. The best line is Florida -1.5 with a coefficient of 1.86.
Columbus–Florida starts at 20:00 Finnish time and can be seen on MTV Sub.
The best betting tip of the day
As the best bet for Sunday, I raise the “little goal” of the La Liga match between Atletico Madrid and Almeria. Few goals means less than 3.5 goals in this match.
The search sounds reasonably wild against the background that this season the home team Atletico has scored more goals than before and correspondingly the away team Almeria has scored the most goals in this season’s La Liga (37 goals in 15 matches).
In the goal statistics, Atletico Madrid and Almeria are the two teams with the most goals in La Liga with 2.5 goals. 73% of Almeria’s matches (11/15) and 71% of Atletico’s matches (10/14) have ended with more than 2.5 goals. At the 3.5 goal line, the over percentages naturally drop drastically and are 36% for Atletico and 47% for Almeria.
Here, I’m not basing the under idea so much on the statistics, but on the fact that Atletico Madrid may not go full-on attacking in the afternoon game against the Serie A jumbo – especially when the team has a decisive match against Lazio next Wednesday in the Champions League group stage. You can also think that Almeria will at least come to this match just to defend to the best of their ability.
The 1.80 offered for less than 3.5 goals is exactly a borderline case in my estimate of 55%.
Atletico Madrid–Almeria starts at 15:00.
Games of the day:-
The total balance of the day’s games for the year: 131/237/97%
Every day Iltalehti chooses the most interesting game of the day and the best game destination of the day. You can always find them in the Betting and Ravit section.