USA vs Latvia: will the hosts put up a fight?
On May 27, the hosts of the IIHF World Championship will play against the USA. Our experts have made a prediction for this game.

Command Analysis

USA

The USA were defeated in the opening game against Finland (1:2), but even in that game, they looked pretty good. In the second match, the US had to play against Canada, and they beat their neighbors with a score of 5:1. Then they defeated Kazakhstan on class - 3:0. The US national team shows a good defensive game and concedes no more than two goals per game.
Even despite the fact that the United States do not have the strongest roster, they now are contending for top lines in their group. At the moment the USA are on the fifth line, one point behind three of their competitors.

Latvia

Latvia are hosting this championship and surely they want to give their best performance. So far the Latvians have lost only one game - against Kazakhstan, but they still earned one point in that fixture - 2:3 B. In the other two games, they beat Canada (2: 0) and Italy (3: 0), keeping a clean sheet in both matches.
Bob Hartley's men are not quick to score, they normally look for their chance for a long time, but they also do not allow their opponents to light the lamp. They try to act exclusively on defense and wait for mistakes of their counterpart. This is a bit of a boring strategy, but it brings the desired results.
Trends
Ставка1st Period: Total Under 1.5
In the last three of Latvia's games, less than two goals were scored in the first period.

Ставка2nd Period: USA To Score
In their last four games, the USA scored in the second period.

Tip and bets
At this World Championship, Latvia look pretty good and try to squeeze the maximum out of each fight. The Latvians are great on the defensive, although they score a little themselves. It is likely that against the United States, the hosts will show a good game, and even if they lose, this will be with a difference of one or two goals.
Our prediction is Latvia to win with an Asian handicap (+2.5)
Considering that even against Kazakhstan the Americans didn't score more than three goals and that Latvia haven't yet conceded four goals in one game, we would bet on the individual total of the American team.
Second wager - the USA individual total under 3.5 goals