Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
Hungary
Norway
In a do-or-die clash for survival in the elite division of the Ice Hockey World Championship, Norway faces off against Hungary. The game is set for Monday, May 19, with puck drop at 20:20 CET. Here’s my pick for the winner of this crucial showdown.
Hungary vs Norway: Match preview
For both teams, the primary objective is clear—stay in the top flight of the World Championship. Right now, Hungary are the closer of the two to achieving that goal. They managed to secure a vital win in one of their recent outings, despite opening the tournament with back-to-back defeats and a combined score of 1:12. However, in their third game, they edged Kazakhstan, and those three points could prove decisive. Since then, though, it’s been two more losses, with a combined scoreline of 3:14. Hungary has the tournament’s weakest defense—28 goals conceded—which is hardly an encouraging stat ahead of their meeting with Norway.
Norway currently sits bottom of the table, trailing by a single point. They were involved in a wild shootout against the USA, where the Americans raced to a 5–1 lead, only to let it slip. Regulation finished 5–5, but the USA came out on top in overtime, winning 6–5. Despite their results, Norway haven’t looked bad throughout the tournament. Their defense and offense are both solid, yet they’ve failed to clinch a win in any of their games so far.
Match facts and H2H
- Norway has lost six straight games, with two of those defeats coming in overtime.
- Hungary owns the worst defense in the tournament, conceding 28 goals.
- Hungary beat Norway 2–0 in their previous encounter. Norway’s last win over Hungary dates back to 2018.
Prediction
Both sides will go all out for victory here, especially Norway—it’s their final game of the tournament and a must-win. I’m backing the total goals over 4.5 at odds of 1.69. Both Norway and Hungary need to rack up points, so expect a high-scoring contest.
