World Junior hockey betting will see Team Canada look to stay atop of Group A versus Team Slovakia today after a convincing 16-2 win over Germany yesterday to open their tournament.
The Canadians needed only 44 shots for their 16 goals as the German goaltending was some of the worst in recent World Junior history. Finding the back of the net might be more of a challenge for Canada as Slovakia is coming off a 1-0 shutout win over Switzerland and has had an extra day of rest.
The puck line opened at Canada -5.5 (-135) but after their performance against the Germans, the line has moved to -6.5 (-141) and will likely trend north all the way to puck drop. The total has also trended upwards as it sits at Over 8 (-123) after opening at Over 7.5 (+105).
Here are our best free hockey picks and predictions for Team Slovakia vs. Team Canada on Sunday, December 27, with puck drop set for 6 p.m. ET.
Team Slovakia at Team Canada Betting Preview
Key Injuries
Slovakia: None to report.
Canada: Kirby Dach C (Out).
Betting Trend to Know
Team Canada is 7-0 SU in its last seven games against Team Slovakia, outscoring them 41-8—which includes three shutouts.
Puck Line Pick
Entering the second round-robin game of the preliminaries, both Team Canada and Team Slovakia find themselves with three points. But each team took a very different path to pick up their respected wins.
Slovakia fired a 1-0 shutout win over Team Switzerland on Christmas day as goalie Simon Latkoczy picked up the 28-save shutout. Switzerland may have the worst offense in Group A but Slovakia will be a bigger test to the Canadian firepower.
Led by a seven-goal second period, Team Canada had scoring coming from every line as only three skaters of the 20 dressed failed to register a point. It wasn’t difficult to score as the German goaltending was subpar, to put it lightly. Canada netted 16 goals but finished the game with 5.58 expected goals.
The scary thing about this Canadian team is that they’re getting better with every shift. The quarantine kept them off the ice up until their exhibition game with Russia earlier in the week as this is a group that hasn’t even started to gel, yet.
Canada had both special-team units score and kept possession in the attacking zone for nearly 28 minutes against Team Germany and dominated faceoffs all game. While Slovakia failed to score on six of its powerplays against Team Switzerland and lost 63 percent of all faceoffs.
We were against Canada in the opener, but after seeing the talent difference after the first round of games, we have to take the home team on Sunday night.
PREDICTION: Canada -6.5 (-141)
Over/Under Pick
After two days of World Junior action, scoring seems to be the theme. Each team has played at least once and a total of 44 goals have been scored across six games. All but one of those matches hit the eight-goal mark—Slovakia’s 1-0 win against Switzerland.
With Slovakia’s team total at 0.5 (Over -125), Team Canada is expected to do all the heavy lifting for Sunday’s battle. We aren’t even sure if Slovakia will play their top goalie. They are +4,300 to win and games on Monday and Wednesday against the Germans and Finland are much more important if they want to finish second in Group A. We could see a scenario where the Slovakian coaches rest Latkoczy to keep him fresh for more winnable games, meaning Samuel Hlavaj, who gave up six goals in exhibition play, could get the nod.
Slovakia lost 6-0 to the Czech Republic in that exhibition bout on Wednesday and have managed just a single goal across six periods of action. Luckily, nearly every one of Canada’s 20 first-round picks can bury the biscuit.
Team Canada scored twice while shorthanded, went 1-for-4 on the powerplay and got four goals from its defense on Saturday night. They might not put up 16 again today, but we wouldn’t bet the Under on their team total of 7.5.
We aren’t going to be swayed by the 1-0 Slovakian win and are aware that, against most teams, not all of those 16 Canadian goals would go in. However, Team Slovakia is not in the same talent-group as the Canadians and if we are taking the Canucks -6.5, we sure as hell aren’t betting the Under. Basically, we are stacking our bets and hope the Canadian offense continues to get better. Just last year, Team Slovakia was 3-1 O/U on totals of 7.5 in the preliminary round and had the worst goal differential of the Top-8 teams at -14.
This total will continue to climb. So getting on it sooner than later is suggested.
Finally, please check with your book on the rules of overtime. Some books’ totals are for regulation time (after three periods) while other books include overtime (fulltime). This game won’t be headed to extra time, but it is a good thing to find out early in the tournament.
PREDICTION: Over 8 (-123)
Team Slovakia vs Team Canada Betting Card
- Canada -6.5 (-141)
- Over 8 (-123)
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Where Can I Bet on the 2021 WJHC?
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