Ilves pushed itself from a difficult 1–2 loss position to a 3–2 overtime win in the hockey SM league quarterfinals against KalPa. The wins are 2–1 for the people of Kuopio. In previous games, KalPa had been the one who had dug up the ties in overtime.
KalPan Oliver Kapanen led by the star field, this time in the overtime it received a decisive setback.
– Ilves’ first court did what was expected of it. Oula Palve created a base behind the goal, by Adam Clendening return puck from the shot Eemeli Finland, from which a massive goal. This was the minimum that Ilves had to get from this match. Freedom, a super important victory, described ‘s hockey expert Top Nättinen.
Eemeli Suomi is obviously injured, because the striker, one of the key players of Ilves, was sidelined in the opening set, but returned to action in the second set and in the end took his team’s backpack.
– Soturi (Eemeli Suomi) fought back, Ilves coach said proudly Antti Pennanenwho emphasized that despite the victory, no goals were scored today.
– The organ was open for both teams, the level of demands was high again. We brought more physicality to the rink and deserved the win today. I don’t buy the ice that was whistled to us for the wrong exchange (Tuomas Kiiskinen practically scored a 2–1 goal from it). We have a top underdog against us. We are still working to get something done, Pennanen continued.
KalPa’s head coach Petri Karjalainen messed up his team’s large amount of ice, which has been a small original sin of Savo’s team in the past.
– We were a bit on the receiving end today, a deserved win for Ilves. We didn’t do well in duels, and we didn’t do well in the flow of the puck. The home team got a lot of quality chances, there was a post and a top bar. On the other hand, Ilves’ goals came from our obvious mistakes, which always happen from time to time. We played into Ilves’ bag when we were careless with the puck, Karjalainen said.
KalPa’s power defender Saku Salmela (1+1) called for goldfish memory in the series (according to popular belief, goldfish only remember things for a few seconds).
– We still believe in doing our own thing, moving forward. Now turned to Ilves. The guy was better than Napsu this time, but we were still able to fight for the win, Salmela pointed out.
In the opening set, Malek was swinging with his shield
Joona Ikonen scored a goal for Ilves in 18:01 Simon Stransky from a brilliant pass from behind the goal, where three KalPa players had miraculously gone.
– Oliver Kapanen fell in the corner, but two players shouldn’t go behind the goal either. Really badly played from KalPa, Ilves had two players as goalkeeper Stefanos Lekkas ahead, expert Nättinen noted.
In the final minute of the set, the Ilves keeper Jakub Malek too nerve control failed and he hit KalPa with his shield Kasper from Simontaiva to the throat area.
– The head should last. That situation could have been watched on video. Sweden previously saw how Olli Palolaa was hit with a shield and what it can cause at worst, the expert pointed out.
Based on the rulebook, Malek could have been sentenced to a 5+20 minute penalty for the foul.
Ilves flashed the goal frame – KalPa leveled with Salmela’s full hit
KalPa rose to 1-1 in the second period, even though Ilves created more spectacular chances than the other.
KalPa’s defender Saku Salmela’s strong rise to support the attack in the Ilves area resulted in a 1-1 tie just over a minute before the end of the second period. Salmela’s wrist shot sank into the net from the inside arc of the starting point.
Ilves was better than the teams in the second set. Eemeli Suomi guided the puck to the top bar once and Petr Kodytek got the puck into the back post from an empty goal post. In addition, KalPa’s goalkeeper Stefanos Lekkas made a couple of great saves.
At the beginning of the third period, Ilves dug the ground under his feet. The team first wasted their own superiority and took it to the end, in the last moments of the superiority, it froze by playing too many field players at the same time. According to Pennanen, the freeze was unwarranted.
Tuomas Kiiskinen a low wrist pull from the middle sector put KalPa in the lead for the first time in the series with a 2–1 goal, which came two seconds after Ilves’ team penalty ended. The hit was practically a power play goal.
– The worst possible start to the third set, you got the upper hand first and I’ll give the opponent another upper hand. Now we are offering KalPa properly, said Nättinen
The lynx’s quadrilateral chain Santeri Virtanenwho only played the first playoff game this spring, brought the home team alongside KalPa in 49:55.
KalPalle and Aapeli Räsänen there was a fatal opening defeat, from which Virtanen of the home team flicked in front of the goal to make the score 2-2 in four seconds. KalPa defender Aleksi Elorinne unfortunately kicked the puck To Jeremi Gregoirewho gave Virtanes a chance to score in front of the goal.
Ilves, the best overpowering team in the regular season, has played 14 overpowers in the quarterfinals and a total of more than 27 minutes without scoring a goal. More than 212 minutes have now been played in the series, and KalPa has led against Ilves for only 6 minutes and 47 seconds of that time, but is still in the lead with a 2-1 win.
The 3rd quarter-final of the Ice Hockey Championship League (with 4 wins to the semi-finals):
Lynx – KalPa je 3–2
18.01 1-0 Ikonen (Stransky, Masin)
38.51 1-1 Salmela (Kiiskinen, Mäenpää)
43.08 1-2 Kiiskinen (Salmela, Mattila)
49.55 2-2 Virtanen (Gregoire)
63.31 3-2 Finland (Clendening, Palve)
Goalkeepers Audience: 8641
Malek 6+ 6+ 4+2 = 18
Lekkas 9+ 5+ 7 +1 = 22
Wins 1–2
Tue 26.3. Jukurit – Kärpät at 18:30 HIFK – Pelicans at 18:30 TPS – Tappara at 18:30
Wed 27.3. KalPa – Ilves at 18:30