Finland vs Slovakia Betting Odds – Slovakia Will Win First Olympic Hockey Medal

After a heartbreaking 3-2 loss against the Canadians in which they had the puck in the offensive zone for the last two minutes without burying the tying goal, Slovakia is looking strong heading into the bronze medal game. The Finns were terrible in their semi-final and got embarrassed 6-1 and will get a chance for redemption against a team that has already beaten two big teams; Russia and Sweden.

• What: Olympic Hockey Betting
• When: Saturday February 27 – 10:00pm EST
• Where: Canada Place – Vancouver, BC
• Key Stat: After allowing just four goals in four games, Finland gave up six in 12 minutes against the USA.

The Storyline – Finland vs Slovakia betting odds breakdown

After winning the silver four years ago in Turin, the Finnish team will go looking for another medal when they face Slovakia on Saturday. The Slovaks have never won an Olympic medal in hockey since their 1993 split from Czechoslovakia and have only medaled twice in that time at the IIHF World Cup. If Slovakia pulls out the win, all three medalists from the 2006 tournament will go home empty-handed.

Offensive Matchups – Finland vs Slovakia betting odds breakdown

Finland is great defensively but their style of play affects the amount of chances that they get at the offensive end. While they did manage 10 goals against Belarus and Germany, they were held to just three in games against Sweden, Czech Republic and USA. Niklas Hagman is the top goal-scorer with three after scoring the winner in the quarterfinal game on Wednesday. They do not have the offensive punch of other teams but have a very good power-play, scoring eight of their 13 goals on the man advantage.

Slovakia is led by the Marians (Hossa and Gaborik) up front and really only have two dangerous lines that are backed up by two checking lines. Gaborik and Michal Handzus lead the team with three goals apiece while Hossa and Pavol Demitra are tied for second in the tournament with seven points. They will have the better forwards in the game and are always a danger to score quick goals and capitalize on chances. With Finland being a defence first team, they will have to work more from the zone than the odd-man rushes.

Betting Edge: Slovakia

Defensive Matchups – Finland vs Slovakia betting odds breakdown

Those doing sports betting know Mikka Kiprusoff led the tournament with a 94.7 save percentage and had tallied 2 shutouts before allowing four goals and being pulled in under 10 minutes of work against the Americans. Niklas Backstrom allowed two goals in his first minutes in the game but settled and shut down the US attack over the last two periods and made a strong case to start the next game. The coach has yet to announce the starter for the game but both candidates are top-end goalies so it should not make much of a difference.

Slovakia has gone through the tournament lulling their opponents to sleep and then jumping on them late in games. It worked against the Russians in the round-robin, the Swedes in the quarters and almost worked against the Canadians on Friday. Jaroslav Halak has been great in net allowing 13 goals in six games with a 91.77 save percentage. His play has allowed Slovakia to stay in close games and is the main reason why they are 3-1 in one goal games.

Betting Edge: Finland

Notable Injuries – Finland vs Slovakia betting odds breakdown

Jeri Lehtinen is banged up but should play.

Marion Gaborik did not play in the third period against Canada and his status is up in the air.

Betting Edge: Finland

Betting Prediction – Finland vs Slovakia betting odds breakdown

It would be ludicrous to think that Finland will come out with another lacklustre effort after being embarrassed by the Americans. They will come ready to play and looking to make up for missing out on a chance at the gold medal. The experts doing the sportsbook know that this game will likely come down to the power-play. Slovakia and Finland have combined for 111 penalty minutes in the tournament and each power-play unit has had success with seven and eight goals respectively.

Pick: Slovakia