Pelicans can get a single victory by scratching, but beating this Tappara several times seems very far at the moment, writes Urheilu’s editor Simo Arkko.
Live broadcast of the third final of the ice hockey SM league on Saturday from 16:40 on Puhe.
The second final of the Ice Hockey SM League was supposed to be the place of a blow for the Pelicans.
The Lahti team played the finals in front of the home crowd after an 11-year break. Maybe the charm of the home crowd would propel the Pelicans to victory over the pre-favorites?
Didn’t wing it.
Tappara, who won Friday’s match 2–0, did not leave Christian Heljangon opportunities for the people of Lahti under the leadership. The Pelicans had to leave the arena without scoring a single goal.
The game went off the wrong track for the people of Lahti after just one minute of the game. Tappara, who excelled in front of the goals throughout the series, succeeded when Otto Rauhala steered the axebreasts into the lead from a seemingly harmless situation.
In the beginning, it seemed anyway that the Pelicans head coach Tommi Niemelän the prediction about the Lahti people’s challenge was correct. Niemelä speculated whether the Pelicans, playing in front of the home crowd, would remain focused and focused on playing.
Niemelä may have been right in the forecast, because in the first minutes the people of Lahti were shaken. That’s why Tappara had chances to score more goals, but Patrik Bartosak kept the Pelicans in the game.
After the initial tension, Pelicans was able to offer a good resistance to Tappara and even dominated the match in certain moments thanks to their superior strength.
But.
Tappara is a master of patience, freezing and defensive play. When the Pelicans had their own searching time, Tappara defended patiently. It did not hesitate, but trusted that its defense would last.
Tapparaa was tested the most at the end of the opening set and at the beginning of the second set, when the Pelicans were allowed to play practically seven minutes straight with superiority. This will surely leave Lahti residents scratching their heads. It was definitely a moment when the Pelicans should have stepped up in the series.
Tappara’s defensive game is characterized by the fact that the team played underpowered for 55 minutes and has conceded only 14 goals in 11 matches, one of which was underpowered (96.3%).
And in Tappara’s great understrength statistics, it’s not about the Pelicans not playing a good overstrength. The Lahti people’s superiority has been in a glorious mood in the spring, but it is Tappara who has been able to dull this.
The difference between the underdogs is huge, as the people of Lahti have conceded eight underdog goals in the playoffs.
The series continues on Saturday in Tampere. Tappara leads the series with 2–0 wins, while four wins are required for the championship.
The Pelicans have a huge mountain to climb against the experienced Tappara. It is difficult to see how the people of Lahti would be able to beat the Finnish champions and the world champions in four games against the cheering Tappara.
Especially when the price of paint is high. Tappara and Heljanko are not easy to pass.
Tappara has not experienced any major problems or difficulties during the entire season. The Pelicans can get a single win by scratching, but beating this very Tappara multiple times seems very far-fetched right now.
It seems that this series of finals is not going to be among the classics.