Does Bremerhaven turn the playoff tables against Munich?
Top game in Bremerhaven! After winning the main round and surviving the quarter-finals unbeaten, the German ice hockey world is eager to see how far the hype team from the north can still go. The upcoming semi-final is made even more explosive by the fact that the only other undefeated team from the quarter-finals is traveling to the start of the series. Defending champions Munich do not enter the ice as favorites, but have an encouraging history against the Penguins
The Red Bulls are now in a playoff semi-final for the seventh time. Apart from the fact that the Red Bulls have never lost a semi-final series in general, the club from the Bavarian capital has never let Bremerhaven take the butter off its bread in the championship battle. The two rivals have met in three quarter-final series so far. Munich always came out on top in the end. Will it be different this time?
Bookmaker Betway is not committing itself at the start of the series and is offering betting odds of 2.40 for a triumph in regular time on both sides between Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven and EHC Red Bull Munich
Even in the event of a promising start to the semi-final against Munich, the Northern Lights should not be lulled into a sense of security. In last season’s quarter-final, the coastal city team led the series 0:2 before the red bulls, with four wins in a row, showed no willingness to compromise and knocked Bremerhaven out of the play-offs.
If you don’t want to bet on the winner between Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven and EHC Red Bull Munich, Bet365 has attractive odds for bets on over 5.5 goals. In the course of this, it also makes sense to use the €100 betting credits that are available from the tax-free provider:
Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven – Statistics & current form
The Fischtown Pinguins are reaping the rewards of their work from the main round in the playoffs. By finishing in first place in the table, Bremerhaven has earned the privilege of starting the best-of-seven series at home again in the semi-finals and, on top of that, being assigned the easier opponent.
The problem is that the balance of power in the main round has been extremely unusual at times this season. Some of the ice hockey giants with title ambitions fell short of expectations and surprise teams clung on to the top ranks.
The fact that the Northern Lights were one of those surprise teams to pull off the sensation and win the main round is of course pleasing for fans and club officials alike. However, the problem for the team from the coastal city is that their supposedly easier opponent in the semi-finals is EHC Red Bull Munich.
None other than the reigning champions are the lowest-placed team left in the play-offs thanks to fifth place in the table and will now travel to Bremerhaven to make life difficult for head coach Thomas Popiesch’s charges. According to the bookmakers, we can look forward to an encounter at eye level. For the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven and the EHC Red Bull Munich, a bet on the respective winner brings odds of a similar amount:
Bremerhaven benefits from the same strengths as in the main round
So after the Northern Lights already had the honor of eliminating runners-up Ingolstadt from the title race in the quarter-finals, the defending champions are the next target. Encouraging for the Penguins is the fact that the coastal town team has so far succeeded in transferring its playing strengths from the main round to the play-offs.
Bremerhaven finished the regular season as the team with the best power play goal rate (25.29 percent). In the quarter-final against the Schanzers, the Fischtown Penguins lost none of their danger when outnumbered and scored six goals in 16 power plays. The resulting success rate of 37.5 percent attests to the fact that the special teams of the Northern Lights currently have the highest scoring threat in the DEL in the playoffs.
Unsurprisingly, Popiesch’s team still has the highest Corsi value (60.06 percent) in the playoffs, which indicates the ratio of shots for and against a team. Bremerhaven continues to rely on a high level of control of the game, which is largely the result of the outstandingly harmonious interplay of the high-quality collective of players.
EHC Red Bull Munich – statistics & current form
After a fifth place in the table in the main round, which was certainly not satisfactory for the reigning champions, the club from the Bavarian capital once again exuded the dominance originally expected in the quarter-final against Wolfsburg. Munich kicked things off with a commanding 3:6 victory against the better-placed Grizzlies, before a clear 7:3 home win increased the series lead to 0:2 for the defending champions.
The remaining two triumphs were tighter at 3:4 and 2:1, but all in all the Red Bulls finished the quarter-finals unscathed and rewarded themselves with an early break. With a correspondingly broad chest, the white-blue-reds now travel north to start the semi-final with another success.
Although home ice belongs to the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven, EHC Red Bull Munich have just as good a chance of winning as the hosts, according to the Interwetten forecast. The experienced betting provider estimates odds of 1.90 on both sides for a triumph in overtime at the latest.
The EHC Red Bull Munich continues to shine with its strength in duels
Like their ambitious opponents from the north, the Red Bulls have also managed to take their most important playing qualities from the main round into the playoffs. With their usual high shooting efficiency (13.38 percent), the Penguins managed to outperform the defending champions in the quarter-finals (13.60 percent). However, EHC Munich is still the measure of all things when it comes to the strength of the duels (success rate: 53.69 percent).
It is interesting to note, however, that the coastal town’s 53.08 percent success rate in the playoffs was almost as high as that of the Red Bulls, even though Bremerhaven had a much stronger opponent in Ingolstadt, the runners-up, than the reigning champions. Are the Penguins surprisingly well equipped to deal with one of Munich’s most striking playing qualities?
Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven – EHC Red Bull Munich head-to-head comparison / H2H result
As mentioned at the beginning, the playoff history between Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven and EHC Red Bull Munich is sobering in terms of a prediction in favor of the Northern Lights. The Red Bulls have won all three previous quarter-final series against Bremerhaven. The defending champions, coached by Toni Söderholm, won three of the four encounters in the main round. In addition, Munich have never been eliminated in a play-off semi-final. Can the surprise team around the Karawanken Express of Urbas, Jeglic and Verlic still pull off a sensation?
Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven – EHC Red Bull Munich betting tip
Although Bremerhaven’s history against Munich speaks a different language, the two teams will meet in the eagerly awaited semi-final under completely different circumstances this time. While the reigning champions have regularly been surprisingly unsuccessful in the main round, the team from the coastal city has been impressively consistent. Over the years, coach Thomas Popiesch and manager Alfred Prey have managed to form a high-quality team that has already done the two club icons proud in their farewell season
Despite all the praise for the hyped high-flyers from the north, it should not be forgotten that the significantly lower-ranked Red Bulls are rightly not the underdogs. The reigning champions are not only highly dangerous in attack, but also have a broad base with numerous key players. The resulting flexibility in attack makes the defending champions difficult for the Northern Lights to predict.
Rather than predicting a winner, we assume that the two opponents will not be as cautious at the start of the series as they might be later in the semi-final. For game 1 of Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven vs EHC Red Bull Munich, odds of 2.10 at Bet365 are therefore interesting for betting tips on over 5.5 goals.
