Will Bremerhaven pose a threat to the stumbling Eagles?
An interesting top game awaits us in the SAP Arena on Friday between two teams whose starting positions provide a special spice. While Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven are currently going from win to win and are deservedly in second place in the table as the team with the strongest form, seven-time DEL champions Adler Mannheim are in a crisis mood. They just don’t want to win – but the fifth-placed hosts are still among the favorites to win the championship
The visitors are currently deservedly ahead of the stumbling Eagles. However, a mere glance at the table only reveals half the truth. Despite all the euphoria in Bremerhaven, even the greatest optimists are aware that the northerners, as a club with limited financial resources, have a major hurdle ahead of them against the title-ambitious Mannheimers. The Adler Mannheim are accordingly favored. A bet on a home win against the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven brings odds of 1.75 – provided the triumph is secured in regulation time
The oddsmakers believe it is realistic that the crisis-ridden Eagles will prevail against Bremerhaven in overtime or a penalty shootout at the latest. However, those who disagree and think a prediction on the supposed underdog in the Adler Mannheim vs. Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven match is plausible will be rewarded with odds of 3.70 on a bet on the winner of the regular season
Adler Mannheim – Statistics & current form
As mentioned at the beginning, the bookmakers have no doubt that Adler Mannheim’s difficulties are only of a temporary nature. However, the six-point gap in the table to their upcoming opponents from Bremerhaven and their current form, which is more than in need of improvement, cannot be argued away. They have lost five of their last six DEL games and also lost their most recent Champions League match against the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers 4:1. So where is the blue-white-red skate pinching?
You don’t have to look far to find Mannheim’s biggest problem area at the moment. Numerous absences in attack are currently causing worry lines on the forehead of the DEL founding member – so many worry lines that Mannheim has been forced to become active on the transfer market to compensate for the offensive gaps
Personnel worries in the Adler offense
The Adler responded to the loss of Ryan MacInnis, Stefan Loibl and leading player Jordan Szwarz at the end of October by signing an NHL veteran. Tyler Ennis, who has more than 700 games in the North American professional league under his belt and laced up his skates for SC Bern last season, signed a contract until the end of the season. However, the 34-year-old Canadian was not to remain the only reinforcement, as the next piece of bad news finally arrived in November. Second-leading scorer Kris Bennett suffered an abdominal muscle injury and is not expected to be available for another two weeks.
In view of the growing offensive bottleneck, the team went straight back to the transfer market shortly afterwards. As we all know, there is an opportunity in every crisis – in this case the chance of a happy reunion. This time, Magnus Eisenmenger moved to Mannheim from Swedish second division club AIK IF. The 23-year-old is not only familiar with the DEL from his previous 87 games for Frankfurt and Augsburg, but also knows one of the Adler players very well: his big brother Maximilian Eisenmenger, who also plays forward.
Is Mannheim overrated as a consistent favorite?
Despite diligent transfer work, the Adler Mannheim vs. Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven betting odds do not adequately reflect the challenges the Adler are currently facing in attack. The new additions do open up new options and create much-needed flexibility. However, only four goals in the last three cross-competition duels speak a clear language.
The bookies are not only of the opinion that the Northern Lights will travel to Mannheim as clear underdogs, but also tend to expect more than 5.5 goals in regular time. Of course, it should not be forgotten that the seven-time DEL champions have a decent home record with ten points from their last five league home games and defeated the Fischtown Pinguins 2:4 in their last encounter.
Nevertheless, this is not enough in our eyes to justify such a clear favorite role for the hosts in view of their current form problems. After all, the oddsmakers imply a probability of almost 70% that the Adler Mannheim vs. Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven betting tip will work out that a home win will be on the scoreboard after a potential shootout at the latest
Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven – Statistics & current form
Since Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven joined the DEL following their promotion in 2016, they have always finished in the play-off quarter-finals at the latest. Apart from second place in the 2020/2021 season, which was played in a different format due to the pandemic and split the 14 participating teams into two groups, sixth place in the main round table was the highest finish of the season.
Bremerhaven always kept a low profile when it came to concrete goals for the season anyway. The bumpy start to the season this year, with four defeats from the first five games, also gave no reason to have any major ambitions in this regard. All the more reason, however, was provided by everything that came after the Fischtown Penguins’ first five league games. Starting with a 6:0 win against the currently seventh-placed Schwenninger Wild Wings, Bremerhaven went on a real winning spree
Is Mannheim a scary opponent despite their excellent form?
The Fischtown Penguins have left the ice as winners a remarkable twelve times in their last 13 matches – with a total of 32 points. Accordingly, it is legitimate that the Northern Lights have now been tempted to formulate a tangible goal for the season: Bremerhaven are determined to top their previous league performances and at least reach the play-off semi-finals.
The Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven can therefore boast a good deal of self-confidence ahead of the clash against Adler Mannheim, despite odds that imply defeat. Nevertheless, it would be presumptuous for head coach Thomas Popiesch’s team to travel to Mannheim without a care in the world. After all, their only defeat in the last 13 games came against the Eagles of all teams – and to make matters worse, in front of a home crowd.
Bremerhaven is a force offensively
So it’s with mixed feelings that we head to Mannheim, who are currently struggling and still have a high-quality squad despite all their personnel worries. Nevertheless, the Fischtown Penguins should be encouraged by the fact that the home side will be without Kris Bennett this time. The Canadian scored the first two goals for the Eagles in the 2:4 win against Bremerhaven and will leave a painful gap in the offense.
The Northern Lights’ offense is one of the most dangerous in the German Ice Hockey League. On average, Popiesch’s men put the puck in the opponent’s net 3.58 times per game. Only record champions Eisbären Berlin have scored more often so far this season. Also interesting: Bremerhaven tends to win away from home only after regulation time. The Fischtown Pinguins have won three of their last five away games in overtime or even in a penalty shootout
Adler Mannheim – Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven head-to-head comparison / H2H record
The Adler and Pinguins Bremerhaven have faced each other 30 times. Apart from the two Cup matches, which took place over 15 years ago and are negligible, there have been 27 encounters in the DEL and one duel in the MagentaSport Cup. In these 28 games, Mannheim has the edge over Bremerhaven with 17 wins. With 84:77 goals, the Eagles also scored more goals overall.
However, the last ten meetings between the two teams paint a different picture: Here, the Fischtown Pinguins are ahead of the Mannheimers with six triumphs and four defeats. Bremerhaven also leaves its upcoming opponents behind in the scoring stakes with 24 goals compared to Mannheim’s 18
Adler Mannheim – Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven betting tip
Mannheim does not want to lose touch with the top of the table and has spared no expense or effort to prepare offensively for an end to the negative series. Meanwhile, the attacking Northern Lights arrive hungry as ever to put themselves in contention for a head-to-head with the Straubing Tigers, who are level on points, despite the Adler’s intimidating away crowd. However, predicting a lot of goals before the Adler Mannheim vs. Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven clash would be more daring than the quotes for such bets suggest.
Mannheim are aware of Bremerhaven’s highly dangerous offense and will focus on being efficient, especially in short-handed situations, and allowing as few goals as possible against the Fischtown Pinguins. Added to this are the aforementioned personnel worries in their own attack, which has been anything but lively in recent duels with the Eagles.
It is therefore interesting to consider the Adler Mannheim vs Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven odds of under 5.5 goals as an alternative to a win prediction; if successful, more than double the stake will be paid out
Mannheim’s poor form combined with the as yet unsuccessful attempts to regain offensive stability is reason enough to place value on the Northern Lights in the Adler Mannheim v Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven match. After all, the betting odds imply a win probability of just 36% – including overtime and shootout. We rate the chances of the offensively strong visitors higher and cautiously set two units as the betting stake in order to use said value for our bet
