2019 IIHF World Championship Predictions Favour Russia’s Red Machine to Dominate Sweden

The 2019 Men’s World Ice Hockey Championship has just started in Slovakia. 16 top hockey nations are battling along two weeks for the chance to call themselves world champions. Among the favourites to win the gold are Sweden and Russia. They will meet on May 21 in Group B. Russia will likely win, according to the 2019 IIHF World Championship predictions.

Online sportsbook news in Slovakia have reported that the preliminary round, combined of two groups A and B, will run until May 21. Top four teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. At this year’s event, the US, Canada, Sweden and Russia appear to be the top favourites to win the title.

Russia and Sweden are both playing in Group B. They will face off in the last game of the preliminary round on May 21. Russia vs Sweden is one of the most anticipated matches in the tournament. The match will present a fierce clash between the title challengers and the defending champions. Hence, Russia the title challengers will likely capture a victory, according to our 2019 IIHF World Championship predictions.

Russia have the best roster in the tournament

Russia’s big red machine won the IIHF World Championship last time in 2014. Online sportsbook sites in Slovakia suggest Russia look perfectly suited to come back on top this time. At the opening match Russia won 5-2 against Norway. Next day they won 5-0 over Austria, and added a 3-0 victory over Czech Republic in style.

Russia arguably have the most impressive roster in recent tournament history. They have plenty of home-developed talent with a big emphasis on their attacking weapons. The NHL 2019 top scorer Nikita Kucherov is on their side. Besides to the other quality players like Evgeni dadonov, Nikita Gusev, and Andrei Vasilevski. Should you bet on Russia to win against the champions Sweden, the odds are 2.19 at 1xBET Sportsbook.

Sweden faced a loss in the opener against Czech Republic

Sweden’s three crowns have won the 2018 IIHF WC. It was their second win in a row and 11th overall. Although many consider Sweden to remain a solid team, their start was very rockey at this tournament. Sweden faced a painful loss in the opener 2-5 against Czech Republic. However, they came back strong afterwards, winning against Italy 8-0 and Norway 9-1.

Sweden looks very confident with Oliver Ekman Larsson on their side, who captains the Arizona Coyotes. In addition, both Loui Eriksson and Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks are doing an impressive job to the team. Sweden might not be the frontrunner in the tournament, but they will make a big trouble to Russia. Sweden’s odds value at 2.635 to win against Russia, according to the 2019 IIHF world championship predictions.

IIHF brought new changes to the basic rules of ice hockey

This year the IIHF world championship has brought some substantive changes to the basic rules of ice hockey. The changes have been incorporated by the IIHF in the new rule book for the period of 2018-2022. The new major changes include adding a new penalty for ‘late hits’, and deleting ‘injury criteria’ for calling a penalty. Other minor changes cover a 5+Game option for slew-footing, a match penalty, and the cancelation of the phrase kicking motion. It remains to be seen whether these rules will affect the result of crucial games like Russia vs Sweden.

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