Denmark vs Russia: The Red Machine will beat Group B leader

After the first day of games at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, Denmark and Russia lead Group B. Who will manage to top the standings as a result of the encounter? Our prediction: Alexei Zhamnov's side will be closer to success!

The Danish team is slowly beginning to play strong in major international tournaments. At the last World Championships in Riga, the Vikings surprised the entire hockey community by beating Sweden 4:3 in their first match but then failed to qualify out of the group. Now, all the teams would make it to the playoffs (unless they caught a mass coronavirus outbreak), but Heinz Ehlers' team still decided to cause a sensation by beating the Czech Republic 2:1. The Danish team scored both goals in the first period and then played defensively, allowing the favourites to achieve only one goal back.

The Russian team is the team that has been preparing the longest for the Beijing Olympics, forcing them to interrupt their KHL season for a month and a half. The first meeting in China against the Swiss team clarified that such a long preparation was not in vain. We all saw the Red Machine display some excellent movement, and Anton Slepyshev was so fresh and alert that he was not afraid to drive up to Yannick Weber late in the second period to hit him with his helmet earning a four-minute penalty. Thankfully, he was the author of the Russians' only goal, which brought them a hard 1:0 victory. The national team's business would surely take off, but for now, they needed to earn three points and relieve the enormous burden of responsibility for a matter of national importance.

The Danish and Russian teams won a hard-fought victory on the first game day of the Olympics 2022, so they now top the Group B standings. There is a good chance that the Red Machine, much stronger than the Vikings, will be the sole leader of the quartet after a head-to-head encounter. That's confirmed by the fact that only the Russians have been victorious in their last nine one-on-one meetings, often by a wide margin. And now we suggest betting on a Russian victory with a handicap (-2.5) for 1.95.

The Danish and Russian national teams won the previous day, with a significant focus on defensive action, but they are unlikely to go through the whole tournament in this fashion. It's time to find ways to succeed on the attack, and Alexei Zhamnov's squad should be particularly active in this area, with an outstanding lineup that can score heavily. In the last nine head-to-head encounters with the Danes, the Red Machine scored 47 goals (5.22 goals per game on average), so we suggest betting on the Russian total over 4.5 for 2.70.

Andrey Chibisov is a forward who continues to improve while playing in the KHL. This season he's scored 34 points (19 goals + 15 assists) in 48 games and is one of Metallurg's top scorers. He started in the Olympic tournament only on the fourth line, but he was part of the power-play unit and was very noticeable. The native of the Kemerovo region can also play in the leading positions for the national team, as he did during the Channel One Cup when he was part of the group with Vadim Shipachyov. As a result, we suggest betting on Andrei Chibisov Total Over 0.5 for 1.9.