Are the Frankfurt Lions becoming the terror of the favorites?
The Frankfurt Lions sense their chance! The ice hockey heartland of Hesse is currently in sixth place in the play-offs and wants to use its strong form to push further up the table. The good news is that their upcoming opponents are struggling with a form crisis and have not scored in their last three games. The bad news: Frankfurt face Eisbären Berlin, record champions and until recently the undisputed league leaders
The Lions should take heart from the fact that the Eisbären have lost their position at the top of the table for good reason. As if it wasn’t frustrating enough for the Berliners to have let the last three duels slip away, the last two defeats were against the penultimate and last team of the respective matchday.
However, the record champions’ poor form does not change the fact that the Eisbären Berlin are the clear favorites to win against the Löwen Frankfurt according to the odds. The individual quality of the founding member is too high, the currently weakening offense too dangerous. Whether the Blue-White-Red can bring this quality to the ice in the 14,200-capacity Mercedes-Benz Arena on Friday at 19:30 is another matter.
Eisbären Berlin – Statistics & current form
While Adler Mannheim and EHC Red Bull Munich have recently suffered their own form crises despite their title ambitions, it seemed for a long time that the Eisbären Berlin were immune to losing streaks. After disappointingly missing out on the play-offs last season, the Berlin team coached by Serge Aubin made a promising start to the current season.
In the first 19 matchdays, the Eisbären only suffered five defeats – only three of them without scoring. As the most goal-scoring team in the DEL, Berlin recently dominated the top of the table, with a decent gap to the championship favorites Munich. Speaking of which: As mentioned, Munich’s defending champions have also been in crisis with a negative streak of four defeats across all competitions, which is now a thing of the past with their recent 5:1 triumph against Mannheim
Can Berlin also make a comeback?
The now third-placed Polar Bears still have this step ahead of them. The fact that Aubin’s team didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory in their last match is certainly a source of pessimism for the capital city club’s fans. Against the bottom of the table Iserlohn Roosters, the Berliners wanted to make amends for their previous defeat against then penultimate-placed Düsseldorf. Instead, the Eisbären Berlin failed to put the puck in the opposing net once and were sent off the ice with a 3-0 debacle.
The sad part? The Roosters weren’t even in a good mood. Although the Berliners conceded two goals in the first period, the hosts were the team that dominated the game, despite a few lapses. When the blue-white-and-white team went into the dressing rooms for the break, there was still confidence that the favorites would make a comeback.
From the second period onwards, however, it seemed as if the league leaders had gradually returned to the cliché that is often attributed to the Berliners: The Eisbären always play badly against the last-placed team. Despite a few scoring chances, any wit was lost. Against the Iserlohn Roosters, who always tried hard but were by no means outstanding, the scoreboard ultimately showed a 0:3 disappointment
Ice Bears want to overcome home complex
As the home standings show, it’s not just the sight of red lanterns that gives the Eisbären Berlin the creeps. The capital city team has developed a real home complex. While Berlin leads the away table by a wide margin with nine wins from eleven games, they are only eleventh in the home table. In November, the record champions only managed a single point at home after a penalty shoot-out against Cologne.
This home complex must now be put to bed. Easier said than done – after all, the Polar Bears are plagued by numerous personnel problems. Captain Kai Wissman and forward Blaine Byron will miss up to seven weeks due to injury. Eric Hördler and Ty Ronning are questionable; the long-term injured Lean Bergmann is even expected to be out for the rest of the year. Defenseman Rayan Bettahar will not be available for an indefinite period of time.
Of course, all of this does not inspire much optimism among the fans who are used to success. However, the fact that Berlin is still the most goal-scoring team in the German Ice Hockey League and has the best goal difference with 83:55 goals speaks for the blue-white-red capital club. In view of this, the bookies’ prediction between Eisbären Berlin and Löwen Frankfurt is that the nine-time German champions will put an end to their slump
Löwen Frankfurt – Statistics & current form
While the Eisbären Berlin are currently performing worse than expected against supposedly weak opponents, the Löwen Frankfurt regularly exceed expectations against top-class opponents. The Hessian showpiece club has shone in the five most recent meetings with a convincing form curve against higher-ranked teams.
With the Grizzlys Wolfsburg, Straubing Tigers and Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven, the Frankfurt Lions have left three favorites without points, two of them away from home. Frankfurt then had to admit defeat to the Schwenninger Wild Wings – but only after overtime, so that at least one point was gained. This was followed by two more points in an overtime win against the Nuremberg Ice Tigers.
Frankfurt convincing as underdogs
The fact that the Lions have faced an opponent from the top five of the table in four of their last five matches is not reflected in Frankfurt’s form. Hesse’s ice hockey heart does not seem to be intimidated by the underdog role. Is it worth betting on the underdog victory in the Eisbären Berlin vs Löwen Frankfurt match?
Even though Frankfurt are in mid-table in the away table, at least the last three encounters in foreign stadiums are arousing desire. Three times in a row, the Lions presented themselves as impetuous guests and left with a victory.
On Friday, two series will be put to the test in the clash with the favorites. Either the Eisbären Berlin will get back on track against the Löwen Frankfurt in line with the betting odds or Berlin’s negative streak will continue along with Frankfurt’s successful away run
The Lions remain stubbornly outnumbered
The Lions will certainly not make it easy for the Polar Bears. It’s not just their performance away from home that is a strength of the team from Hesse, Frankfurt are currently hardly conceding anything when outnumbered. In the last five matches, head coach Matti Tiilikainen’s charges have conceded just one goal in a total of 26 shorthanded situations. That corresponds to a shorthanded efficiency of 96.15%! In fact, the Lions’ last four opponents went completely empty-handed in their power plays.
In terms of personnel, Frankfurt have one new addition to report. During the German Cup break, the Lions were active on the transfer market in a similar way to their rivals and brought forward Julian Napravnik from the North American AHL from the Hershey Bears to Hesse. Since then, the Bad Nauheim native has appeared in all four games, but is still waiting for his first scoring point.
The bookmakers do not think it is too likely that Napravnik will be able to celebrate at least one win with his team. An Eisbären Berlin vs Löwen Frankfurt bet on a win for the visitors in the regular course of the match would almost quintuple the stake in the event of success
Ice Bears Berlin – Löwen Frankfurt head-to-head comparison / H2H result
Berlin and Frankfurt have met in 75 matches to date. Apart from the three games that ended in a draw, the Polar Bears have emerged victorious 41 times; Frankfurt has thus had the upper hand in 31 matches. In addition, the scoreline is 254:234 goals in favor of Berlin.
A look at the last five meetings between the two rivals reveals that, with one exception, the Polar Bears have always triumphed. In fact, the Lions have not yet managed to beat Berlin this year
Ice Bears Berlin – Lions Frankfurt betting tip
It is unlikely that the Eisbären Berlin will let their failures upset them in the long term. Nevertheless, the capital city club has not been completely unaffected by the personnel worries. The 17-year-old young forward Clemens Sager was recently licensed. In addition, 28-year-old winger Jaedon Descheneau has joined the attack on a four-week tryout contract. Will the goal-scoring Canadian already recommend himself for a permanent deal in the upcoming game and contribute to a successful Eisbären Berlin vs. Löwen Frankfurt prediction of a home win?
The Eisbären Berlin are determined not only to break the annoying home curse, but also to live up to their role as favorites for a change. The fact that the Lions from Frankfurt are on the verge of turning into one of the favourites in no way diminishes the high quality of the Berlin squad, which is admittedly plagued by personnel problems.
Nonetheless, a record with the most goals scored and the third fewest goals conceded in the German Ice Hockey League paints a clear picture of the Eisbären’s level of play – despite their current lack of form. Therefore, we have set odds of 2.00 on a handicap win between the Eisbären Berlin and Löwen Frankfurt with a one-goal lead in regulation time.
