Last season’s league jumbo did not submit in the home cave of the reigning champion. However, it experienced a clear defeat.
Tappara and SaiPa are used to seeing hockey at different ends of the SM league standings. This was also the case this time, when the teams met on Tuesday in Tampere.
However, the parts had changed: SaiPa started the match in the fifth place of the regular season and Tappara the last one. Of course, tonight’s match was only the second of the season for the people of Tampere, when SaiPa played already for the fourth time.
In terms of goals, Tappara dominated the match, but the overwhelming pre-favorite only got the lead at the beginning of the second period Veli-Matti Savinainen by hitting
We entered the final with the same readings. At the beginning of the set, SaiPa was able to claim the equalizer with superiority, which turned out to be the fate of the team. Tapparan Oiva Keskinen sailed into the defense area of the yellow shirts underpowered and lifted the puck from the front corner to the roof of the goal.
The final readings finished with an empty finish Petteri Puhakka. The game ended 3–0 (0–0, 1–0, 2–0). The win was Tappara’s first of the season. The scoreless game was the goalkeeper Paavo Kohonen the first of his league career.
SaiPa’s performance against Tappara is certainly valid in light of the statistics of recent years. In the last two seasons, the teams have met nine times. Tappara has won eight of the meetings with a goal difference of 38–13. Seven of these goals were also scored by SaiPa in December 2022, when they beat Tappara in the shootout 7–6.
SaiPa has started the SM league season Raimo Helminen under reasonably. The team lost the opening game to KalPa by only a goal. Two meetings against KooKoo also ended with a difference of one goal. On Friday SaiPa won, on Saturday the team lost in the shootout.