Will the Eisbären be more confident in Straubing?

At the start of the series, Berlin stumbled again at home – but this time to victory! In the Uber Arena, the Polar Bears once again struggled and were put under vehement pressure by the Tigers. Nevertheless, the capital club, which is used to success, was able to avoid another debacle. Captain Kai Wissmann and Co. now lead the best-of-seven series 1:0 and have to play at the Eisstadion am Pulverturm on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Although the Straubing Tigers were recently considered the underdogs against the Eisbären Berlin according to the bookmakers’ predictions from our betting provider rating, the tables have now turned. Although the record champions recently crowned themselves the winners, they are not the favorites to travel to Lower Bavaria. Will the experienced championship favorites not be unsettled by the suboptimal start to the best-of-seven series?

Since the hosts, coached by Tom Pokel, are the favorites for the second clash, a bet on the visitors is possible at attractive odds ahead of the Straubing Tigers vs. Bet-at-home is offering odds of 2.73 for bets that the capital city team will not need overtime to increase their lead in the semi-final series to 2:0. On top of this, provider Bet-at-home impresses with its customer friendliness and a €100 welcome bonus!

Straubing Tigers – Statistics & current form

Frustrated and motivated, the Tigers welcome the record champions on Wednesday. In the first match, it just didn’t work out with the victory. The Straubing team was able to celebrate early. After just six minutes of play, the Berlin team scored. The problem: the joy did not last long. Although the goal was declared valid on the ice, the referees reversed their decision after reviewing the video evidence.

Straubing were not discouraged, but were unable to score despite their powerful attacking play. Instead, the Polar Bears ended the first period with a 1:0 lead. Despite a few good attempts, one of which even hit the frame of the Polar Bears’ goal, the start of the game thus set a completely different direction than the furious Lower Bavarians had hoped for.

Can the Straubing Tigers overcome Jake Hildebrand this time?

On paper, the remaining two periods didn’t go any better for the visibly disillusioned Tigers. After captain Kai Wissmann himself had given the home side a 1:0 lead in the first period, Wiederer and Byron scored two more goals for the Polar Bears within the first eight minutes or so of the middle period.

Over the course of the game, the usually physical home side took a whopping seven penalties, but only one of them resulted in a goal, which prevented a shutout for Berlin goalie Jake Hildebrand, who once again performed brilliantly, two minutes before the end of the game. After his previous monster performance against Mannheim, the 30-year-old was once again one of the main reasons why the record champions did not suffer a defeat.

Will the fired-up Tigers bite their teeth out again at home against the US-born player? Bookmaker Betway assumes that the Lower Bavarians have a better chance of success this time. The experienced bookmaker, who knows how to convince with good customer service, has odds of 2.00 for the second match between the Straubing Tigers and the Eisbären Berlin for bets that the visiting capital city team will prevail in a potential overtime at the latest.

Eisbären Berlin – Statistics & current form

The capital club’s semi-final opener showed some parallels to the start of the quarter-final against Mannheim. The Polar Bears once again found it difficult to get into the series and struggled to get off to a good start. However, unlike in the first match against the Eagles, Berlin managed to get their act together and prevailed with a 3:1 home win instead of being embarrassed again at their own venue.

Nevertheless, it has to be said that the encounter was anything but smooth sailing for head coach Serge Aubin’s team. “After our break, we were still a little rusty in the first period,” the 49-year-old coach noted after the clash. Goalscorer Manuel Wiederer was also not entirely satisfied with his team’s performance: “It was a somewhat disjointed game, but at times it was quite good. It could easily have gone the other way.”

Will the nine-time champions manage to bring their playful qualities to the ice better in the second encounter? In any case, the capital city club has caused skepticism among the bookies with its shaky victory. Between the Straubing Tigers and Eisbären Berlin, odds of 2.73 only imply a probability of 36.6 percent for a regular away win

Do the DEL playoff stats point to a stumbling Eisbären?

After only six playoff matches for the Polar Bears, a game with stats is always a game with fire. Nevertheless, there are already facts and figures from which not only interesting insights can be drawn, but which could also lead to erroneous assumptions. For example, Berlin is the team with the lowest passing accuracy among the playoff teams (78.97%) and is clearly outperformed by the Tigers (83.35%).

Viewed in isolation, this could indicate that the Capitals are weakening. However, it is important to note that the Blue-White-Red’s style of play in the main round was by no means based on a high passing accuracy. The even lower figure of 77.70 percent did not prevent the Polar Bears from finishing the regular season in second place in the table with the most goals (181). More alarming, however, is the record champions’ significantly worse playoff shooting ratio (-55) compared to the leader Straubing (+76).

To put this into perspective, however, it should also be noted that the capital’s strength lies instead in its shooting efficiency, which at 11.18% in the playoffs is even slightly higher than in the main round, when Berlin led the DEL comparison with an efficiency of 11.15%. What’s more, no playoff team has kept its opponents’ goal-scoring efficiency as low as the Polar Bears. While the record champions have allowed their previous opponents to achieve a combined shooting efficiency of just 7.50 percent, this year’s play-off opponents of the Tigers were much more successful with 12.17 percent. However, the successful tackle rate of 45.22 per cent leaves a lot to be desired and is currently an Achilles heel for the hosts.

Straubing Tigers – Eisbären Berlin head-to-head comparison / H2H result

Even though the Tigers were eliminated by Berlin of all teams in their only semi-final appearance twelve years ago, their recent history should give the fans of the Lower Bavarians cause for optimism. Straubing defeated the Eisbären three out of four times in the main round. The capital city club only won once – but only in overtime.

Nevertheless, Aubin’s charges managed to wrest a win from the Tigers in the first semi-final game. As a result, Berlin currently leads the best-of-seven series 1-0. Ahead of the second clash between the Straubing Tigers and Eisbären Berlin, betting on an extension of the lead in regulation time will pay no less than three times the stake in the event of success

Straubing Tigers – Eisbären Berlin betting tip

Another bumpy start to the best-of-seven series has not only left Polar Bears fans with worry lines on their foreheads, but has also made the bookmakers suspicious. Coupled with the home strength of the Straubing hosts, the bookmakers with a German license have the Tigers as favourites. Can the Lower Bavarians live up to the high expectations after their promising start in the first encounter?

Despite the bookies’ predictions, we think the Eisbären Berlin are at least on a par with the Straubing Tigers. In addition to the high playing quality of the capital’s team, Aubin’s charges are an absolute power on the road. In the main round, the Polar Bears were the best visiting team in the league, scoring more points away from home than at home in the Uber Arena.

In the playoffs, Berlin has also not had to give up any points in rival stadiums. Accordingly, the increased odds of 2.73 at Bet-at-home for betting tips on a regular triumph for the record champions are interesting in our eyes and harbor value.