Sweden vs Canada Prediction, Tips & Odds – May 26, 2022 15:20 CET
A mouthwatering fixture awaits us this Thursday in the 2022 IIHF World Championship as two of the main tournament favourites collide. Sweden was relentless and finished second in group B suffering only one loss after overtime to the United States, while Canada surprisingly had a lot of troubles in group A finishing in third place and losing to Switzerland and Denmark.
Sweden
Sweden is always in the mix despite some people doubting their abilities. After a horrific showing at the last World Championship, Sweden also failed to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics. They came to Finland with a point to prove and already reasserted themselves as one of the main hockey powerhouses in the world.
With the quality at their disposal, it was never really in doubt. The game that got them going was against the hosts Finland when they claimed a 3:2 win after penalties. Sweden entered that derby as a heavy underdog against the reigning Olympic champions, but when everyone ruled them out, they came out on top.
Even though they were winning, the Swedes were not resting on their laurels during the group stage bolstering their team as the games were passing by. An already powerful and mighty roster was reinforced with NHL names such as Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carl Grundstrom from the LA Kings, and William Nylander from the Toronto Maple Leafs. They look well poised to win the title at the moment so it is really a pity they are clashing with Canada so early.
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Canada
The main favourite started off the tournament well scoring goals at will and decimating Germany(5:3), Italy(6:1), Slovakia(5:1) and Kazakhstan(6:3). Then they encountered unexpected problems and lost two games in a row to Switzerland and Denmark.
To be honest we don´t remember when was the last time Canada lost two consecutive games in a big tournament. The Canadians vented their anger in the final group game and the victim was France in a 7:1 rout. With that win, they set up this all-time hockey classic against Sweden making this game the final before the final.
Their 6:3 loss to Switzerland was not so surprising because the Swiss have solid chemistry and quality and can always take down the top teams. However, the loss to Denmark raised a lot of eyebrows because it was the first time Canada lost to the Danish team after 73 years. Now that we have entered the knockout stage we expect to see the Canadian team at a much higher level led by their captain and Ottawa Senators´ defender Thomas Chabot.
Canada defeated France 7-1 tonight in the final game of the round robin in Helsinki, finishing in third place and setting up a showdown with Sweden in one quarter-finals on Thursday.✊ @hockeycanada
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Sweden vs Canada Prediction
Picking a winner is extremely difficult as the game can really go either way. We do like the Total Under option because this will be a clash between two experienced and quality defensive teams with excellent netminders. Also supporting our selection is the fact that it is a very important game and both teams will not take too many risks. With everything we have seen so far we think we will be in for a lot of drama and a low-scoring affair in Tampere.
Prediction: Total Under 5.5
Odds: 1.688
Bookmaker: 22Bet
Date and time: 26.05.2022 15:20 CET
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