Will the Eisbären get their home opener against the Tigers this time?
The semi-final will be a clash of the table neighbors. Even if it doesn’t look like it on paper, the Polar Bears have had a similarly hard-fought quarter-final series as the Tigers. In the end, both deserved to win. At the start of the best-of-seven series between the Eisbären Berlin and Straubing Tigers, the odds imply that the capital city is the favorite this time around
If you think that the Lower Bavarians will prevail despite Straubing being the underdogs, you can use an Intertops free bet to access betting odds just under the 3.00 mark for an away win within regular playing time without risk. The Tigers had to go the full distance of seven games against Schwenningen in the quarter-finals to fight their way into the semi-finals against the nine-time title winners from Berlin. Are the energy tanks still full on Easter Monday at 17:00 in the Uber Arena?
Although the Straubing Tigers put in a strong performance to reach the semi-finals, we agree with the Eisbären being the favorites. We don’t believe Berlin will make a similarly embarrassing home start to the series as they did against Mannheim in the quarter-finals. Accordingly, the betting odds at Bet-at-home for a regular win for the capital city team between the Eisbären Berlin and Straubing Tigers are tempting. If successful, odds of 2.07 will more than double the stake. The user-friendly provider also has a €100 welcome bonus in its repertoire!
Eisbären Berlin – Statistics & current form
4:1! At first glance, this sounds like a commanding quarter-final series against Mannheim, in which Berlin didn’t let much get in the way of paving the way to the semi-finals. A closer look, however, somewhat demystifies the supposed march through. The most striking aspect is the sobering start to the series. Instead of benefiting from the longer regeneration phase due to the direct play-off qualification, the apparently over-rested Polar Bears were completely out of rhythm. The result: a 1:7 debacle in their own stadium.
Can the record champions get off to a better start at home this time? The bookmakers are confident and, with odds of up to 3.20 between the Eisbären Berlin and Straubing Tigers, only imply a probability of 31.25 percent that an away win will be on the scoreboard after regulation time.
A deficit is difficult to make up against the Eisbären Berlin
Although the nine-time champions were initially even considered underdogs against the Eagles after their initial embarrassment in the following games, the Eisbären clinched a place in the semi-finals with four wins in a row. Here too, however, the devil was in the detail. All of the games were hard-fought and, in case of doubt, could have gone either way for the now-eliminated team from Mannheim.
Nevertheless, Berlin delivered a consistently strong performance after falling behind. The Eisbären have recently excelled above all in defending leads strongly and counter-attacking with ice-cold precision. It is interesting to note that the capital club had the lowest face-off percentage of all play-off teams in the quarter-finals (44.40 percent).
However, one particularly important ingredient in Berlin’s recipe for success cannot be gleaned directly from the statistics: Against Mannheim, it became clear time and again that the Eisbären can drive their opponents to despair like no other team with game intelligence and outstanding defensive positional play.
The team of head coach Serge Aubin is almost frighteningly efficient in limiting the offensive options of the opponents by cleverly covering the passing lanes as soon as Berlin is in the lead. Coupled with goalie Jake Hildebrand, who is currently in top form and is still being celebrated for his monster save in the recent match against Mannheim, a healthy dose of ingenuity is needed to take the capital club by surprise. Is there a betting tip between the Eisbären Berlin and Straubing Tigers that the home side will get off to a suboptimal start to the series?
Straubing Tigers – Statistics & current form
The Tigers have one thing in common with the Eisbären: The quarter-finals were extremely hard-fought for the Lower Bavarians. The difference between Straubing and Berlin is that this fact can also be seen in the series result against Schwenningen. The maximum of seven games was needed in the eventful best-of-seven series to deny the Wild Wings their first semi-final in 34 years.
The quarter-final was not only an exciting, but also a curious series. In every duel without exception, one of the two teams initially took at least a 3-0 lead. The respective opponent never managed to emerge victorious despite trailing. In the all-important final game, things got tight again in the final phase against the Swans, who were playing catch-up, but nothing changed the home side’s triumph.
Will the Straubing Tigers opt for a defensive approach in Berlin?
The Tigers also have one thing in common with the Eisbären in terms of play. In addition to Straubing’s red-hot offense, it’s difficult to catch up against head coach Tom Pokel’s charges. As soon as the Lower Bavarians have built up a lead, the Blue & Whites flex their defensive muscles and don’t give it back so quickly. It’s not for nothing that Straubing finished the main round with the second fewest goals conceded in the German Ice Hockey League.
The special teams are also usually a showpiece of the Tigers. In the quarter-finals, however, the Lower Bavarians did not manage to take the second-best powerplay goal rate in the DEL from the main round into the playoffs. Instead, the focus here was also on defense – and extremely successfully at that. In percentage terms, no other team in the current playoffs has conceded as few goals when short-handed as the Tigers. The Wild Wings scored just three goals in 25 power plays. This results in a short-handed efficiency of 88.00 percent!
However, it should be noted that Schwenningen was one of the weakest outnumbered teams in the DEL in the main round. Accordingly, these statistics should be taken with a grain of salt. In addition, their upcoming opponents Berlin are less reliant on power plays than most other teams in the league. Although the Eisbären scored the most goals in the main round (181), the record champions had the fourth-worst scoring rate in the league when outnumbered (16.87 percent). Ergo: The attacking threat of the capital city team lies elsewhere!
Eisbären Berlin – Straubing Tigers head-to-head comparison / H2H record
In the course of the main round, the visiting Tigers on Easter Monday have developed into a real scary opponent for the record champions. Of the four meetings this season, Berlin has only managed to come out on top once. Straubing won the remaining duels. However, Eisbären coach Serge Aubin no longer wants to know anything about the main round
Lately, the now nine-time champions proved to be an insurmountable stumbling block for Straubing in the semi-finals. In their last play-off appearance twelve years ago, the Tigers had to bow out in the semi-finals against the Eisbären of all teams. Although this is not relevant for the upcoming best-of-seven series, late revenge is usually no less sweet
Ice Bears Berlin – Straubing Tigers tip
Twelve years after their last semi-final appearance, the Tigers have now made it into the top four teams in the league for the second time in their club’s history. Unlike in the 2011/12 season, the Eisbären Berlin should not be the last stop again. In view of the fact that the capital city club is back in top form this season after missing out on the play-offs last year, reaching the final will be a more than difficult task for the Lower Bavarian cup team.
Since Berlin and Straubing achieved success in the quarter-finals with comparable means in places, it will be exciting to see to what extent the opponents adapt their strategies to each other. In addition to its defensive intelligence, however, the capital club boasts an even more dangerous offense that could prove too dangerous even for the robust Lower Bavarians.
For the first match of the semi-final series between the Eisbären Berlin and Straubing Tigers, we choose the bet on a regular home win. Bet-at-home currently has betting odds of 2.07 on offer, which offer attractive value.
