The flies scratched the most important semi-final attachment from Tampere, narrowing it to 1-2 in the Ilves series. Juhamatti Aaltonen acknowledged the previous match to a stupid extra time and scored a 2-1 victory in 67.26.
Tampere’s Ilves suffered a setback in Wednesday’s semi-final loss against Kärppi when its star center Petri Kontiola had to leave the trough in Tampere in the second installment.
Kontiola was caught in the middle of the second batch of the Czech package of the Flies David Sklenickan and fell into the ice after the flight. Kontisola, the leading star in the lynx chain, no longer returned to the trough.
– Today (Kontiola’s well-being) cannot be commented on. We will be wiser on Thursday, said the Ilves coach Jouko Myrrä.
Ilves had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. Ilves came in to finish the match.
– After all, the situation was not optimal when the chains and chain friends are constantly changing. About Marko Anttila a central striker was made, sometimes more players were recycled and then sometimes they went on the offensive chains that were last played in October-November. Still, that shouldn’t be an explanation for not running the game, the Ilves pilot clarified.
Myrrä kept the match flat. The people of Tampere “hung” in the victory battle all the way to the ice of the extension (3×2 min).
– We didn’t get the start we wanted for the first installment. The flies were more mobile and fighting in it. The second installment was better than ours and there were places to do it. The third installment was then followed and long passes had to be defended. Coolers are always a bad thing in the sequel if you’re struggling to win.
It was an obvious ambition of Ilves to use their ability at attacking on the flanks.
– The game is always in relation to the opponent. The flies were strongly in playoff mode today. We could not answer that now. Also, we didn’t have the courage to play when it had its place. There was a certain kind of rudeness.
According to Myrrä, Wednesday’s match was a lesson for Ilves about what a playoff game is and what a single game or situation means.
– Everyone (teams) sometimes gets bad episodes. There can be no gas at the bottom and no driver at all times. Although we had a hard time in the third set, our goalkeeper (Marek Langhamer) was good and we made numerous disc blocks. The fighting spirit was good.
On Friday, Myrrä promises Ilves, who has been intrigued by Raksila’s trough and is wise about mistakes.
– In Ilves, it means the whole, that is, that every player implements the things we have been doing with our best ice since August. In playoffs, things are not applied or corrected. Let’s stick to my own way of playing – skate and fight better.
Ilves set a new playoff record in the playoffs when 9,301 spectators watched the match at Tampere Arena.