Slovakia vs Canada Prediction, Tips & Odds – May 16, 2022 15:20 CET

After a shaky start, Slovakia will face its toughest challenge yet in the group stage of the 2022 IIHF World Championship going up against one of the tournament favorites, Canada. Reigning champions should be able to add another routine win to their tally against a team that has struggled so far and will have to turn to other games in their fight for the knockout stage.
Slovakia
After winning the bronze medal at the Olympics, much more was expected from Slovakia at the start of this tournament. Led by NHL scorer Tomaš Tatar and rising talent Juraj Slafkovsky they could have done more in their two opening games, especially when we look at who they played so far. Their tournament opener was a tumultuous game against France in which they managed to compose themselves after giving away a two-goal lead. Quality prevailed in the end as they got an important 4:2 win but against a much tougher German team they were left empty-handed.
In their first game against an NHL netminder they experienced problems as Philipp Grubauer only allowed them one goal and propelled his team to a 2:1 win. Today it will be even tougher as they will be facing the best NHL goaltender unit in the group. Even though their chances are limited, they will look to use this game as a springboard to lift their intensity and level of play for some crucial games coming up.
In a hard-fought, entertaining affair, @deb_teams earned its first three points of the 2022 Worlds with a 2-1 victory over Hockey Slovakia on Saturday night in Helsinki.🇩🇪✌️
Watch full highlights.👀#SVKGER #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/nsC5pIOO0a
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 14, 2022
Canada
Canada achieved a solid 5:3 win in their opener and we expected nothing less from them. That win over Germany might not look so convincing at first but the game was more or less done after the second period when the Canadians had built a comfortable 5:1 win. Two goals scored by their star NHL forward Pierre-Luc Dubois secured them the points as the Germans simply didn´t have enough to handle Canada´s offensive prowess.
With the competition in the group, it would be a major surprise if the Canadians didn´t finish at the top. Besides Germany and Switzerland, Slovakia is the only team that can keep up with them for the majority of the game but none of these teams have enough to inflict them serious damage.
The Slovaks will look to slow the game down as Canada will be looking for a high-octane game with a lot of shots and powerplay opportunities. Similar to Germany, Slovakia has more than enough quality to score a couple of goals and take advantage of Canada´s unpolished defense at this stage, but keeping up with their highly effective offense will be mission impossible.
🇨🇦 @HockeyCanada scored five goals to bring home their first win of the tournament! #IIHFWorlds #GERCAN pic.twitter.com/SbKIVu7tWt
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 14, 2022
Slovakia vs Canada Prediction
We are expecting another strong performance from the favourites whose offensive potential can´t be matched by any of the teams from their group. Imposing a very high tempo should enable Canada to score lots of goals again but their defensive level leaves a lot to be desired.
22Bet has an excellent betting combo that perfectly compliments our description of this game and that is Canada to win along with a total of at least five goals scored by both teams for very solid 1.90 odds.
Prediction: Team 2, Result + Total – Canada to Win and Total > 4.5 – Yes
Odds: 1.90
Bookmaker: 22Bet
Date and time: 16.05.2022 15:20 CET
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