The top teams of the SM league HIFK, Tappara and Kiekko-Espoo won their matches through a long formula. On the other hand, SaiPa, who came in fourth, secured the victory in regular time.
SaiPa already won its sixth consecutive victory in the hockey SM league, this time at the expense of Pori Ässie at its home arena in Lappeenranta. SaiPa celebrated a 4–1 victory in Kisapuisto.
SaiPa took a 1–0 lead after a good six minutes of play by Niklas Appelgren on the finish line. Later in the same set Miska Siikonen sealed the lead at 2–0.
The second set started with SaiPa’s superiority, and the home team succeeded immediately. Captain Ville Petman scored a 3–0 goal less than half a minute after the puck fell on the ice. The goal was the tenth of the season for SaiPa’s golden helmet. The final score 4–1 flashed into an empty net Otto Hokkanen.
A full round of eight matches was played in the SM league on Saturday. With the win, SaiPa moved past their guests Ässie and Luko to fourth place. Lukko lost at home to Rauma Pelicans 1–3.
League leader HIFK went to Oulu to seek revenge from Kärpi after Friday’s 2-3 overtime loss. The teams again followed a longer formula. The actual game time ended with a score of 2–2, and there was no solution in overtime. In the competition for the winning goal, IFK was the only one to succeed Kristian Vesalainenwho secured a 3–2 away win for the Helsinki team with his hit.
Iiro Pakarinen’s eight-game scoring streak was broken when the HIFK striker failed to score in Oulu. Pakarinen has already scored 23 goals this season.
– The goal streak wasn’t in my thoughts, but of course I would always like to continue like that. Today I didn’t succeed, and personally it wasn’t the best evening, Pakarinen commented to STT.
It wasn’t easy for Tappara either. The reigning champion was at the top in Turku, when TPS led 2–0 after two sets. However, the people of Tampere eventually won 4–3 at the end of the winning goal competition. Victory decided Christian Tanus. Tappara is second in the league.
Series jumbo Jukurit persistently bullied Kiekko-Espoo in Mikkeli. Kiekko-Espoo, which was third in the series, won 3–2 only in overtime Arttu Tuomaalan from the hit.
In the other matches of the evening, KalPa beat JYP 4–1, Ilves KooKoo 4–3 and Sport HPK 3–2 in overtime.
The SM league will be on a national team break of one and a half weeks due to the Helsinki EHT tournament to be played next week. The next league games will be played on Wednesday, November 13.
SM league results and table on text TV pages 221–223.