Winterthur vs. Olten Prediction, Tips & Odds – Feb. 18, 2022
After a 3-day break Swiss National League B hockey resumes this Friday with another round of key fixtures. One of them is between bottom-placed Winterthur who will host one of the title contenders second-placed Olten. Morale of the hosts will be high going into this game after a crucial away win over their direct playoff rivals Ticino Rockets(2:1). Olten will be a very demanding task but hosts are desperate for points as they currently find themselves in a very tense fight for the final playoff position.
Winterthur have won their two most important points of the season so far by beating Ticino in the previous round 2:1 after overtime. It was a vital away win that brings them closer to 10th place and the playoff zone with not a lot of rounds left. They have a game in hand over their direct opponents Ticino so with only seven rounds remaining every game counts at this stage.
Hosts have played very well in the last couple of games with the exception of a humiliating 7:0 defeat away to La-Chaux-de-Fonds. Besides beating Ticino they also won three very important points by beating GCK Lions at home(5:4). Olten is undoubtedly a much better team and a promotion contender but at this stage of the season when games hold special importance they can´t be considered as such overwhelming favourites.
Home team was experiencing a crisis at the start of the year but after the arrival of a new Finnish attacker Atte Karppinen along with the return of a couple of absent players, their form improved. With their goalkeeper issues resolved and with some experienced players that used to play in the top NLA tier we think they can be competitive today and keep the game more or less tight until the end.
Olten´s chances of catching up with Kloten and overtaking the leading position are all but gone. They can´t move from current second position which should have them a bit below their usual level, especially with certain defensive issues and rotation of their foreign attackers during the ending of the season. After beating today´s opposition Winterthur by a comprehensive 6:1 at home ten days ago, they had a tough schedule of games resulting with two unexpected losses. They were surprised by Sierre at home and suffered a 3:2 defeat while in the previous round they fell 4:2 to La-Chaux-de-Fonds away from home.
Winterthur vs Olten Prediction
Olten´s defensive issues can´t seem to end this season. After losing defenders Florian Schmuckli, Joel Scheidegger and Nico Gurtner earlier in the season, they suffered another huge blow couple of games ago when one of their main defenders Eliot Antonietti got injured.
Winterthur has more or less a full roster at their disposal after a long time. They met with Olten four times this season and were beaten every time. They managed to keep it close once at the start of the season at home losing 4:2. Other three times they didn´t stand a chance and lost convincingly by 4:0, 5:0 and most recently 6:1. This time situation is different. Winterthur is at home and in need of points so we think the given spread is too high.
Pick: Handicap Winterthur (+3.5)
Odds: 1.79
Bookmaker: 22bet
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