Frankfurt are under pressure against record champions Berlin!
The battle for the last playoff spots could hardly be more exciting: Frankfurt is in 11th place, just one point off the top ten in the DEL table and thus one point away from qualifying for the first playoff round. However, the victory records for a Löwen Frankfurt vs. Polar Bears Berlin suggest that the chances of the Hessian hosts getting into a more advantageous position are not optimal.
Despite the supposedly poor starting position, Frankfurt is in good form. However, the Löwen suffered a setback against the ice hockey giants EHC Munich after four consecutive victories. Now the next top team is coming: Berlin, just five points behind the league leaders, is no less motivated to give their all on Wednesday evening to stay close on the heels of the Ingolstadt DEL leaders. Although the betting providers with a German license agree on Berlin’s role as favorites, the Frankfurters are by no means without a chance.
Unlike the Lions, the playoff pressure in Berlin has already dissipated. The most recent home win against Straubing has ensured that the polar bears will not miss the playoff quarterfinals. Will the capital city team still flex their offensive muscles on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Nix Eissporthalle?
Frankfurt Lions – Statistics & current form
There, where the ice hockey heart of Hessen beats, the Frankfurt fans once again experienced a rollercoaster of emotions after the last turbulent season. After initially only winning two of seven games, playoff hopes began to fade. The 7-2 home defeat to the current bottom-of-the-table team from Düsseldorf was particularly difficult to take.
However, the battered Lions have now pulled themselves together again and are flying the flag in the race for the highly coveted playoff places. The team of head coach Tom Rowe has only lost once in the last five games. Although Frankfurt has already had to contend with several setbacks during the current season, Rowe was recently given the club’s full confidence: The contract of the 68-year-old, who has been in charge of the club since last summer, was extended until 2026.
Will the Lions’ home weakness against Berlin be their undoing?
Even though the Hessian hosts can look forward to welcoming the defending champions with broad chests, home advantage alone is not enough to make them favorites. However, with odds of 2.28, the bookmakers imply a probability of just under 44 percent that Frankfurt will win in a potential overtime or even a shootout at the latest.
But back to one of the top DEL games on Wednesday: the signs for a triumph for the Rowe team could be better despite the positive form curve. Frankfurt has faltered too often at home and only ranks ninth in the home table. In contrast, the Eisbären are the best away team in the league and a force to be reckoned with.
On the other hand, the Lions are the third most penalized team in the league, which could prove problematic against the strong power play team from the capital. On the other hand, Frankfurt’s high penalty-killing efficiency (81.99 percent) gives hope. Only two teams are more reliable here.
The Lions’ offensive threat cannot be denied, especially at the moment. In the last five duels, Frankfurt scored a whopping 23 goals! However, Carter Proft will be missing from the offense on Wednesday. Proft lost his temper after the recent defeat to EHC Munich and was consequently handed a two-game suspension. However, the 30-year-old had rarely stood out with impressive performances of late. That absence between the Lions Frankfurt and the Polar Bears Berlin should therefore have no influence on the bookmakers’ odds.
Polar Bears Berlin – Statistics & current form
It is hardly worth mentioning that the Eisbären are among the offensive crème de la crème of the German Ice Hockey League. As in the last season, which ultimately ended in a well-deserved championship title for the capital city club, Berlin has the second most dangerous offense in the DEL with 171 goals in 44 games. Only league leaders Ingolstadt can keep up with them, having scored one more goal. By way of comparison, EHC Munich, who have already played 45 matches, have scored 30 fewer goals than the Eisbären.
The fact that Berlin has scored an impressive 25 goals in its last five games is also an indicator that Frankfurt’s defense should not expect any breathing space on Wednesday. In order to adequately classify the data for a Löwen Frankfurt vs. Eisbären Berlin prediction, it should of course be noted that ten of these goals were scored in the 10-2 victory over the Düsseldorfer EG. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the capital city team has scored at least four times in the opposing box in four of the last five encounters.
Can the polar bears in Frankfurt rely on their top scorers again?
The fact that the best betting apps for the match between Löwen Frankfurt and Eisbären Berlin have slightly increased betting odds for a high-scoring clash is all the more surprising. However, it is less surprising that the Eisbären have the two top scorers in the DEL in their ranks, given Berlin’s prolific goal scoring: Leonhard Pföderl and Ty Ronning lead the scoring charts in the DEL with 62 and 57 points respectively.
Ronning, in particular, is currently in excellent form. None of the last six games of the Eisbären Berlin have ended without the 27-year-old scoring at least once. In two of those games, Ronning scored in the first 40 seconds to give the record champions an early lead. For betting tips on the points machine celebrating again, Bet365 offers tempting odds of 2.26.
Pföderl is also currently unstoppable, scoring a total of five times in the last three games. In general, the attack of the team of successful coach Serge Aubin works like clockwork: no other DEL team can match the shooting efficiency of the polar bears (12.19 percent). In addition, the defending champions are the best team in the league in terms of power play, with a success rate of 27.74 percent.
Lions Frankfurt – Polar Bears Berlin Direct comparison / H2H record
In addition to the positive form curve, the Lions are welcoming the Polar Bears despite the pessimistic forecast of the bookmakers with a sense of achievement in mind. Frankfurt won the last encounter between the two opponents 2-3 ‒ after trailing 2-0! The other two duels in the current season ended less favorably for Frankfurt: Berlin won both the home and away games 5-2.
Overall, however, the Lions and Polar Bears maintain a more even competition with a victory ratio of 32:46 in favor of the capital city with three draws than would be expected from looking at the current DEL table.
Frankfurt Lions – Berlin Polar Bears Tip
Although the Eisbären can play freely with regard to the coveted playoff ticket, the lead in the table and thus the important home field advantage in the playoffs is still at stake. The Ingolstadt team, currently in second place, is still within reach. Accordingly, the Lions, who are under a lot of pressure, must prepare for Eisbären who are still playing well. For the eleventh-placed Frankfurters, however, every point counts: there are currently only three points between seventh and eleventh place! Will the offensive strength of both teams come into play on Wednesday?
In view of the bookmakers’ slight tendency towards a low-scoring game, we think a Lions vs. Both Berlin and Frankfurt are currently impressing with outstanding offensive performance. In addition to the high vulnerability of the Hessian hosts, the traveling record champions are relatively vulnerable with an efficiency of only 79.14 percent. On the other side of the coin, the league’s best power play of the polar bears poses an immense danger to the hosts.
The almost double the stake, which would result in odds of 1.94 from a successful bet at NEO.bet, promises enough value to achieve a satisfactory risk-reward ratio. What’s more, as NEO.bet offers no deposit free bets, the risk can almost be completely eliminated.
