NHL
Andrew Rogers
May 26, 2019

Canada vs. Finland Prediction: 2019 IIHF World Hockey Championship Final Odds

The Canadian entry at the IIHF World Hockey Championship rode an eight-game winning streak to a spot in Sunday’s gold-medal game in Bratislava, Slovakia – but to claim their first world title in three years, they’ll need to knock off the only team that has beaten them in the tournament. Finland and Canada face off for the first time since the Finns handed their Canadian rivals a 3-1 defeat in the opening game of the competition for both sides.

Team Canada vs. Team Finland IIHF Gold Medal Game Odds

The Canadians are the oddsmakers’ clear choice; the pre-tournament favourite is hitting its stride at the right time, overcoming that opening-game loss to Finland by outscoring the opposition by a ridiculous 43-11 margin over the next eight contests. Yet, while taking Canada to prevail doesn’t offer a great payout at -252, the Finns are the sexier moneyline choice here at +152. There is value in taking the Canada puckline (-1.5), which is set at +104.

From a totals perspective, there’s little doubt how oddsmakers believe this one will wind up, with the under 5.5 set at an absurd -238 and the over 5.5 paying out at +165. The teams played it tight the first time around, while Canada saw an average of 5.5 goals scored in its first two playoff games and Finland is at a five-goals-per-game average in its elimination-round contests. Each of the previous three world championship finals has produced five or fewer total goals.

Team Canada

Canada earned its shot at redemption in style, walloping the Czech Republic 5-1 in a semifinal beatdown that might have been the team’s best all-around game of the tournament. A balanced scoring effort led the way, with Mark Stone, Darnell Nurse, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kyle Turris and Thomas Chabot all lighting the lamp in the victory. And Matt Murray was the real star of the game for the victorious Canadians, turning aside 40 of 41 shots to preserve the win.

Team Finland

The Finns knew they were in tough after needing overtime to dispatch the powerhouse Swedes in the quarterfinals. Yet they somehow find a way to keep a team with Nikita Kucherov, Evgeni Malkin and a host of other Russian superstars off the scoresheet, advancing to the gold-medal game with a 1-0 victory on the strength of Marko Anttila’s third-period goal and 32 saves from Kevin Lankinen. Finland is seeking its third world title all-time, and first since 2011.