Hockey betting Photo source: nhl.com
Another landmark event for the entire world of hockey will take place this weekend in St. Louis. The 65th NHL All-Star Game will take place on the ice of the Enterprise Center, the home arena of the St. Louis Blues. The show traditionally runs for two days. On Saturday, January 25, hockey players will have to compete in various competitions, and on January 26, a shortened tournament will be held with the participation of four teams.
By the way, it will be possible to watch it in Yandex.Ether, where there are already many interesting videos dedicated to the participants of the match.
Content
- Format
- Team lineups
- Atlantic Division
- Capital division
- Central Division
- Pacific division
- Statistics
- Odds 1xBet
- Forecast
Format
It is not the first year that the Star Weekend in the NHL has been clearly divided into two playing days. The first day is given to the individual skill of hockey players who will take part in six competitions. Four of them will be traditional, but two contests (“Throwing Stars” and “Women's Match”) will be seen for the first time. Importantly, for the greater motivation of the participants, an amount of $ 30,000 will be drawn in each competition, which will go to the winner. So, briefly about each of the contests:
- Speed circle – the participant's task is to run a circle around the hockey rink at maximum speed. The record in this competition belongs to Dylan Larkin, who covered the distance in 2016 in 12,894. The last three seasons have been won by Connor McDavid, who will reappear on the ice this weekend as part of the Pacific Division. Of the Russian hockey players, two victories are on the account of Sergei Fedorov (1992 – 14.363 and 1994 – 13.525).
- A series of goalkeeper saves – in this competition, one goalkeeper from each division participates, whose task is to make the longest possible series of reflected shootouts. Last season, Swedish goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist won with 12 straight shots. In this competition, it is worth cheering for the only representative of Russia at the 2020 All-Star Game – Andrei Vasilevsky. Vasilevsky, who defends the gates of Tampa Bay, will represent the Atlantic Division on a stellar weekend.
- Shooting accuracy competition – here the participants have to throw at five targets located in the goal, one by one closing each one. The fifth target was added in 2018, before that hockey players closed four targets. Last season, David Pasternyak won, spending 11.309 seconds on everything.
- Women's match – for the first time, viewers of the master show will see the women's match, which will be held in a 3 vs 3 format. The game will consist of two periods of 10 minutes of “dirty” time. Violation of the rules will be punished not with a two-minute suspension, but with a free throw, which will be performed by the victim. American and Canadian teams will take part in the match.
- Strongest Shot Competition – A player must shoot at goal from 30 feet (9.14 meters). A prerequisite is that the puck must hit the gate, and in this case, a special radar gives the result in miles / hour. Here the record belongs to the Slovak Zdeno Hare, who in 2012 threw on goal at a speed of 108.8 mph (175.1 km / h). Of the Russian hockey players, the same Sergey Fedorov (2002 – 101.5 mph) and Alexander Ovechkin (2018 – 101.3 mph) won this competition.
- Throwing Stars is another debutant in the master show. Players will be located on platforms raised above the ice (height is about 9 meters) and throw from there at targets that have a certain point value. The winner is the hockey player who scored the maximum number of points in the allotted time.
On the night from Saturday to Sunday Moscow time, 4 teams representing their divisions will hold a tournament in the semi-finals – final format. The matches will consist of two periods of 10 minutes each, in case of a draw result, the teams immediately, without overtime, begin to execute the shootouts. The composition of the team on the ice is 4 people (3 field + 1 goalkeeper), there are 11 hockey players in the application.
Team lineups
The composition was determined as follows. At first, the fans chose the division captains, who later recruited teams for themselves. At the end of the choice of captains, the fans, by their own vote, added one more player to each team. As a result, we got the following compositions:
Atlantic Division
Goalkeepers: Andersen (Toronto), Vasilevsky (Tampa Bay). Defenders: Weber (Montreal), Headman (Tampa Bay). Forwards: Marner, Matthews (both Toronto), Eicel (Buffolo), Duclair (Ottawa), Huberdeau (Florida), Bertuzzi (Detroit), Pasternac (Boston). Head coach – Brusse Cassidy (Boston), team captain – David Pasternyak.
Capital division
Goalkeepers: Jarry (Pittsburgh), Holtby (Washington). Defenders: Jones (Columbus), Letang (Pittsburgh), Carlson (Washington), Slavin (Carolina). Forwards: Konecny (Philadelphia), Barzal (New York Islanders), Hishear (New Jersey), Krider (New York Rangers), Oshie (Washington). Head coach – Todd Rearden (Washington), team captain – Chris Letang.
Central Division
Goalkeepers: Hellebike (Winnipeg), Binnington (St. Louis). Defenders: Pietrangelo (St. Louis), Yossi (Nashville). Forwards: Perron, O'Reilly (both St. Louis), Staal (Minnesota), McKinnon (Colorado), Shifley (Winnipeg), Kane (Chicago), Seguin (Dallas). Head coach – Craig Beruby (St. Louis), team captain – Nattan McKinnon.
Pacific division
Goalkeepers: Markström (Vancouver), Rittich (Calgary). Defenders: Giordano (Calgary), Hughes (Vancouver). Forwards: Dreiseitl, McDavid (both Edmonton), Tkachuk (Calgary), Kopitar (Los Angeles), Pettersson (Vancouver), Gertle (San Jose), Pacioretti (Vegas). Head coach – Rick Tocquet (Arizona), team captain – Connor McDavid.
The original team also included two Russian forwards – Alexander Ovechkin (Washington) and Artemy Panarin (New York Rangers), but for personal reasons, both will not take part in the 2020 NHL All-Star Game.
Statistics
Traditionally, semi-final pairs look like this: Central Division – Pacific Division, Atlantic Division – Capital Division. In such combinations, the teams met 4 times. In a pairing of the Central and Pacific, the advantage is on the side of the Pacific division, which won in three matches (9-6, 10-3 and 5-2) with one defeat 4-10. In the second pair, each of the rivals has two wins, the Metropolitan Division won their matches with a score of 10-6 and 7-4, Atlantic 4-3 and 7-4. In terms of the number of final victories, the two teams have the same indicators, twice the tournament, held in a new format, was won by the Pacific and Central divisions.
Odds 1xBet
According to the bookmakers, the representatives of the Central Division have the greatest chances for the final victory, the coefficient for the championship of which is 3.5. The Pacific division is next, the victory of which is offered with a coefficient of 3.74. The odds for winning the Atlantic Division are 4, and the Metropolitan Division has the smallest preliminary chances of winning – 4.14.
Forecast
Do not discount the fact that such events are more indicative. In such a situation, it is almost impossible to analyze the teams' real chances of winning, so we will focus on our own intuition, which prompts us to pay attention to the team of the Pacific Division. Initially, it is clear that a three-on-three game suggests that the individual skill of the strikers will be critical, and here a pair of Pacific Division forwards stand out – Dreiseitl and McDavid. Both forwards play on the same line in Edmonton, which means there is no need to worry about teamwork. They are also leading the regular championship bombing race, with 75 and 76 points scored, respectively. We would venture to suggest that the presence of such a duo seriously increases the chances of the final success of the Pacific Division. Our forecast is the first place in the Pacific division with a coefficient of 3.74.
