Finland vs Czech Republic Prediction: Expect a Total Under

On 24 May 2022, Finland will face another Ice Hockey World Championship match between Finland and the Czech Republic at the Nokia Arena in Tampere.

Finland continues to prove that they are the strongest team in the world. In the last three major tournaments, the Suomi have reached the finals, where they have won twice. At the World Cup at home, the Blues and Whites are objectively the leading contenders for the title, which they prove from game to game. Indeed, in the equator of the group stage, the team misfired when they lost to Sweden on penalties - 2:3, but in the remaining five games, the Finns won with a total score of 20:2, and each time during regular time. All this allows Suomi to lead the Group B standings.

The Czech Republic comes to the 2022 World Cup having experienced a severe shake-up ahead of the tournament, with the appointment of a new head coach Kari Jalonen. Under his guidance, the Lions played great friendly games but failed to make their World Cup debut. The Czechs had an unexpectedly long period of trouble with the Brits, who won the game (5:1), but lost to the Swedes and Austrians 3:5 and 1:2, respectively. Fortunately, then David Pastrňák came to Finland, under whom the Czechs did not lose any more points, beating the Latvians, the Norwegians, and the Americans by a combined score of 10:2. The Czechs are now in third place in the standings.

Finland and the Czech Republic continue to find out which team will take which place at the end of the group stage. Much will depend on how the places in the neighboring group will be distributed. After all, the Canadians are unlikely to be in the quarter-finals already, while the Maple Leafs are still in fourth place. If we abstract away from this factor, Suomi should get three points in the upcoming match, as they have a more well-played squad that has successful experience in decisive battles, and the home crowd is always ready to come to the rescue. As a result, we suggest betting on a win for Finland at odds of around 1.80.

We should not expect a high goal-scoring activity in the upcoming match. Finland and the Czech Republic are coached by Finland's Jukka Jalonen and Kari Jalonen, respectively, who teach their players tough, defensive hockey. For that reason, their opponents conceded just five goals (0.83 goals per game on average), while the Czechs conceded twice as many, which is still respectable. Moreover, in their last six head-to-head encounters, the opponents have only allowed 20 goals (3.33 goals per game on average), so we suggest betting a total under 4.5 for 1.79.

Mikko Lehtonen joined the KHL a couple of years ago and immediately began to showcase his crazy personal stats. In his debut season, he scored 53 points (18 goals + 35 assists), which is fantastic for a defenseman. His numbers have since dropped, but he's returning to the 2022 World Cup, notching two goals and six assist totals in six games. The 28-year-old defender is obviously in good form, so a bet on Mikko Lehtonen's Total Over 0.5 at around 7 is worth considering.

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