Czech Republic vs Latvia Prediction: The Czechs will recover from last night's embarrassing defeat

On 19 May 2022, the Finnish city of Tampere will host another Ice Hockey World Championship match between the Czech Republic and Latvia at the Nokia Arena.

The Czech Republic came to a major international tournament as one of the main contenders for the trophy, but once again, things didn't go according to plan. In the first game, Kari Jalonen's charges suffered a long time against Great Britain, but still managed to beat the group outsider 5-1, but then suffered further losses. The Czechs lost 3-5 against Sweden, and the day before, they crashed out in a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Austria. After that, it was reported that some Czech players had broken the regime, and David Pastrnak of Boston was called upon to save the situation.

The Latvian national team have their second major tournament under the leadership of Harijs Vitolins. It must be admitted that the first game was a harsh one for the new national team boss, as his men lost all four games at the Beijing Olympics, falling apart in the 1/8 finals. Latvians got off to an equally poor start at the 2022 World Cup, losing to the United States and Finland 1-4 and 1-2, respectively. The long-awaited victory they managed to achieve only in the third game against Norway, where the Latvians managed to come through with a positive result (3:2), but it is still difficult to dream of leaving the group.

The Czech Republic are the clear favorite to face Latvia. The Czechs have beaten the Latvians by a 36-18 in their last nine consecutive head-to-head encounters at major international tournaments. Now Kari Jalonen's kingdom has some big football problems. Still, the defeat for Austria should motivate everyone, so the Latvians will have a hard time looking for a decent result in the upcoming game. We'll bet on the Czech Republic to win with a handicap (-2.5) for 2.25.

The Czech Republic have not only been consistently beating Latvia recently, but they also look good offensively in those matches. In the previous nine head-to-head encounters, the Czech Lions have scored 36 times (4.00 goals per game on average), which is a respectable number for long distances. And in the upcoming game, we can rightfully expect Kari Jalonen's charges to excel on offense, as the forwards need to wake up. Otherwise, the 2022 World Cup will be over without their scoring exploits. The Czech Republic's Total Over 3.5 pucks for 1.84 looks like the best option for our prediction.

Tomas Kundratek is an experienced defenceman who has played in the NHL, AHL, and KHL and now plays in the local Czech league for Třinec. Last season he scored a career-high 32 points (10 goals + 22 assists) in 61 games, which is a nice record for representing his position. Moreover, at the 2022 World Cup, he has already scored a goal and an assist in three games, which confirms his good form. Therefore, it is worth considering betting on Tomas Kundratek's Total Over 0.5 points for 1.85.