HV71 – Skelleftea AIK

This time the trip goes to Jønkjøping, and Husqvarna Garden, where HV71 plays their home games. There they will be visited by Skellefteå. A match where the bottom meets the top in the Swedish SHL series.

Hv71 is currently in relegation place (13), while the guests have risen all the way to the second highest place in the division (2).

It provides a great starting point for an exciting match. Simply put, two teams that are dependent on winning, but with completely different starting points.

HV71 – Can't escape the bottom battle.

The last two seasons, HV71 has saved relegation by making it through the so-called relegation playoff. They have found their way to save their place via this playoff. They still had clear ambitions to avoid this this season. But they are currently in 13th place. Which is one of the two places that leads to exactly that.

HV71 has simply been a bottom team over time, and they won't get away from it this season either. But there is a little hope there, because the team ahead of them in the table currently has the same points, and only a worse goal difference means that HV71 is in the vulnerable spot.

Only 48 points in 41 games is a foregone conclusion. Of course, that is very weak, and that points average is most likely not enough if they want to move up the table. But the form has looked a little better lately, and they have actually won 4 of their last 6 games. Even though it is against relatively weak opposition. The team clearly takes most of their points at home. There they have taken 31 points in 22 games, which gives them 8th place in the home table.

Skellefteå AIK – A real contender for gold.

Skellefteå is a real candidate to win it all this year. They have been a top team in the SHL for several seasons now, and the team is in great form this part of the season.

After Frølunda has had a decline in form. Skellefteå has taken the opportunity to get closer significantly. A division that a while ago seemed decided, has now become very exciting. There are now only 3 points that separate Skellefteå from the top of the table. Even though they have one more game played. The momentum is on their side. They now have 10 wins in the last 11 games, and are clearly the team that is going the best today.

84 points in 41 games is a given. Those are simply solid numbers. At home they are better than any other team. While away they have 38 points in 20 games which makes them the second best away team in the league. If you are number one at home and two away. That tells us that we are dealing with a good hockey team.

Conclusion – Skellefteå smells like gold.

A gold-chasing away team will probably sell themselves dearly here. The form suggests that they will not be stopped by many teams on the day. Then the match against the team that is second to last in the table should be manageable in principle. Now it is probably the somewhat good form of HV71 that means that we get good odds to bet on here. But there should be a difference between these teams.

Another thing that indicates this is that Skellefteå is the team that scores the most of all, and there are not many teams that concede less or. 146 goals in 41 games are huge numbers at this level. The reason we mention this is that we like teams that have the ability to "score" their way out of trouble. Now they also meet the team that concedes the most goals in the league.

We therefore feel we have to try the following games:

Hockey at 19:00: HV71 - Skellefteå AIK: Skellefteå AIK wins (1.97)