Tingsryds AIF – BIK Karlskoga 23-02-2025

Hockeyallsvenskan is drawing to a close at the end of the regular season. The playoffs are approaching, and the teams want to position themselves as best as possible. Karlskoga is currently in the best position of all. They have led the series for a while. But after the loss last time. They are now there with as many points as Djurgården. In that sense, it is a good fit to meet one of the bottom teams here. Tingsryds is number 12 of 14 teams, and should really have no chance here.

Karlskoga – Lighter resistance will help

Karlskoga, who have led this series, are now in a relatively difficult period. They have 4 losses in the last 6. Two of these losses have come after overtime, and the other two have been lost by the smallest possible margin. We can also mention that in this period they have met all the other top teams. So that the matches can go the wrong way in these matches is not surprising. But now they are going into a nice period with nice matches on paper. Before this period the team had 12 wins in a row. So we don't feel they have lost form, but rather had small margins against them. They will now face lighter opposition, and we believe they will improve in terms of results. The team is well-mannered, and they have good balance in the team. The team has a lot of speed, and are very good at the back of the field. They have conceded by far the fewest of all the teams in the series. When they also score well with goals, we know that this tends to be a good recipe. They have also been good on the road this season, and only 3 teams have taken more points on foreign ice. The team has several players among the top 10 point pickers in the league. We also see that as a good sign. We believe that this team will fight to keep first place until the playoffs. Which will give a nice home field advantage in terms of the fight for promotion.

Tingsryds – One of the weakest

Tingsryds, who were tipped far down the table before the season, have in this respect fulfilled their promise. The team is now only 2 points ahead of the relegation position. The two bottom teams will play qualifiers to save their place. It is another place Tingsryds wants to avoid. Because this team is no better than that it could happen quickly if they were to end up there. They are in terrible form at the moment, and that will not help against this tough match. They have lost 6 of the last 7 matches. Where 5 of these are by 2 goals or more. We have to see if we can exploit that. The team is the second worst home team, and does not play with much confidence even on familiar territory. If you look at the entire season, the team concedes a lot of goals, and scores the second least of all teams. The goal difference is a weak 85-152, which means that the team concedes almost twice as much as they score. The team seems to have resigned, and looking at the results, of the last 4 losses, they have lost to other bottom teams by 2 goals or more in all of them. That is not a good sign. We feel pretty sure that the opponent in today's match will be too strong. Their best point pick is all the way down to 68th place in that table. The next one is all the way down to 92nd place. So not much excitement ahead.

Conclusion – Away team wins

There is no doubt that the away team looks the strongest in this one. You can get a win for Karlskoga at 1.50 for those who want a safer bet. We think we can easily get a bigger win in this one, and think it is worth the risk. As we have explained many times. If the match is on the rocks, the team that is under will probably try to take out the goalkeeper to score. Then we have statistics that show that it is usually the team that is going to defend that scores in an open goal. Especially if this is the supposedly strongest team. They usually have players who are a little better, and certainly dare to try to score, versus dumping the puck out. We have seen it many times. This time we do not think that is necessarily needed, as there should be a big difference in playing strength between these teams. If we look at previous matches this season, all have ended in favor of Karlskoga. The results are as follows. 2-0, 6-1 and 6-3. That gives us faith in a handicap bet at the following odds.

Hockey at 16:30: Tingsryds AIF - BIK Karlskoga: Karlskoga wins -1.5 goals (1.80)