Czech Republic – Finland: less than 5.5 goals

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May 1, 2025

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Our tip: Czech Republic – Finland: less than 5.5 goals

01.05.2025 18:00

Czech hockey players have the last Euro Hockey Tour tournament of this season ahead of them, so they are slowly finishing their preparation for the World Championship. Coach Radim Rulík is already taking his NHL compatriots for the final act of the EHT, namely goaltenders Dan Vladař and Karel Vejmelka, defenseman Filip Hronk (David Špaček plays in the AHL, but is also an overseas reinforcement) and forward Jakub Lauk. Other reinforcements will join later, especially David Pastrňák.

The roster is still missing all the potential reinforcements from the final series of the Extraliga from Kometa and Pardubice (additions are theoretically possible, but probably not for Thursday’s game). For many players, this is one of the last opportunities to prove that they belong in the World Championship team.

In the opening game, the Czechs will play Finland in Brno. The team will feature the star goaltending duo of Nashville’s Juuse Saros and Justus Annunen, with Seattle’s Eeli Tolvanen a very interesting addition. Otherwise, the team has a number of players from European competitions, which is a bit of a tradition for the World Championships. However, the Finns can play fantastic hockey even with a minimum of NHL reinforcements, which is something Rulík’s team will have to watch out for.

Since the rosters will be quite changed compared to the previous preliminary games or previous EHT tournaments, taking into account the previous games against each other is not very telling. Still, there have been three EHT duels this season, with the Czechs winning once and the Finns winning twice. Not many goals were scored in the duels.

What to bet on:

Don’t expect too many goals from Thursday’s game. Finland will play a defensive style, which is kind of their style. There will be a maximum of five goals in the game.

Confidence:

7/10

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