In Hämeenlinna, we’ll see if Ilves sets a goalless streak record for the season.
Ilves has a long goalless streak. Mika Kylmäniemi/AOP
The most interesting game of the day
Otherwise, Ilves, who has been playing really well lately, has faced a surprising goal-scoring problem in their last two matches. The team has remained zero against both TPS and Ässi.
In the match against Tapparaa, Ilves’ last goal came already at the beginning of the second period, so the team has now played more than 155 minutes in a row without scoring a goal.
In the big picture and in terms of gameplay, the random goalless period does not sway Ilves’ course in any direction, but in detail it is exciting to watch in the HPK match. Of course, the awareness of the goallessness may also slightly increase the local pressure on the handle of the stick today.
HIFK has the longest continuous goalless streak in the league so far this season. At that time, the people of Helsinki played 166 minutes without a dumpling. Today HPK and above all the goalkeeper Daniel Lebedeff can force Ilves to receive the tuhnu round award of the season from HIFK.
You can’t actually bet for (or against) Ilves’ goalless streak record, but Veikkaus offers odds on whether the first goal of the match will be scored before or after 9:30. If you want to bet something on this, I think the best choice is after with a coefficient of 1.73. Go to scoreless minutes: #liigadata.
In this situation, a scoreless streak has practically no meaning for the strength of the match or for the trend of Ilves, who are second in the series. Ilves’ way of playing leans Antti Pennanen in coaching, above all, defensive tightness, and the team has recently improved wildly compared to the beginning of the season.
In the ten previous matches, only 13 goals have been scored for Ilves (1.3 per game). Of the last two goalless matches, it is also worth noting that Ilves created a total of five goals against TPS and Äss.
HPK is currently fighting hard for the last playoff spot. The team’s recent results do not fully reveal its good playing mood. Although there is only one three-point win in HPK’s five previous matches, the team has scored points from tough Luko, TPS and Tappara in the last matches. In the season’s mutual meetings, HPK still won Bunch of Myrrh coached Ilves in October in Tampere 3-2 in overtime, but in December Pennanen’s Ilves was better in Hämeenlinna 4-0.
On Friday, Ilves should be a slightly bigger favorite in the match than Veikkaus (actual playing time coefficient scale 2.86/3.80/2.22). When predicting the winner, Ilves’ 2.22 is the best.
The nature of the match is likely to be low-goal and as the best bet, I raise the 1.95 odds offered for under 4.5 goals. HPK–Ilves starts at 18:30.
The best betting tip of the day
Friday’s best long shot can be found in snooker’s German Masters.
It is somewhat surprising that Veikkaus offers Louis Heathcote–Allister Carter -game, the highest (1.36) coefficient on the market for the significantly better Carter. Here, the difference in the basic level of the players and the displays from recent times are so strongly on Carter’s side that in the best of nine games, Carter should be a really big favorite.
My rating for Carter is almost 80%. In my opinion, the favorite of the Karrikos will only lose this game in a “hands off” case. Louis Heathcote v Allister Carter is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m.
The best search for ice hockey is Jukurit–Kärpät, under 5.0 goals with a coefficient of 1.96.
Games of the day: Louis Heathcote–Allister Carter 2 (odds 1.36)
The total balance of the day’s games for the year: 6/16/64%
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