Lukko started the third quarter-final of the Norwegian Hockey Championship strongly in front of his home crowd and took a well-deserved 1–0 lead when Antti Saarela directed Matthew Abt past the shot Roope Taponen in time 5.21.
HIFK turned the situation around with three quick hits after scoring three complete hits with five shots. The visiting team needed just under three minutes for this.
On time at 11:30 Otto Paajanen shook the starting circle by the whisker, By Sebastian Dyk from the right knuckle serving to the back corner of the ball. After that Julius Nättinen a cross pass found Dyk, who appeared at the back post, who made no mistake with the upper hand.
– Two high-quality direct attacks from HIFK, said the expert Ismo Lehkonen.
Kristian Vesalainen the wrist pull waved just under a minute after the visitors’ second goal, and HIFK took a 3–1 lead in 14:21. In the same time Artem Zagidul for exchange, Samuel Jukuri between the posts from Luko.
– Nicely stretched opening play from HIFK. A long pass from Jääskä, and Vesalainen got at full speed against the standing defense. Good shot on top of that, praised Lehkonen.
Julius Mattila said that Luko’s playing in the first period was brilliant at best.
– Behind the pain was scoring again. The guy had three places and three goals. Rough willow rope in our direction. It doesn’t help to move forward with a short memory and one game at a time towards the future, Mattila said.
The second set was scoreless in Rauma, and there was no doubt about the winner. The most talked about situation of the round was Lukko defender Abtin Taklaus of HIFK Iiro Pakarinen. There was no condemnation of the situation.
– Pakarinen got to taste a little of his own medicine. When you look at the situation in slow motion, Abti’s shoulder hits the tip of his chin. I understand that Ville Peltonen took the judges for an interview after that, Lehkonen said.
In the third set, Pakarinen sealed HIFK’s 5–3 victory with two goals. Jere Karjalainen two narrow goals were a small consolation for the home team.
– The goalkeeper has now been to Rauma on a robbery spree twice. Lukko has scored more shots than HIFK in home games. Taponen has practically taken all of Lukko in his back pocket, even though Lukko scored three goals today, Lehkonen emphasized.
“HIFK’s booth compacted into a diamond”
The series between Luko and HIFK seems to be decided by the goalkeepers. Taponen has caught almost everything, Zagidulin has not. HIFK leads the quarter-final series with 3–0 wins, and the statistics no longer support Luko’s further chances.
– Luko’s number one horse Zagidulin is practically out of the game. However, he was the best goalkeeper in the SM league at one point, a goalkeeper praised in many media. Has he been played too much, wondered expert Lehkonen.
For a long time, Lukko dominated the regular season of the SM league, while HIFK wrote bad records in their club history. However, the trend of the teams at the end of the season has been completely different.
Participating in the Spengler Cup at the turn of the year seemed to have relaxed things for the people of Helsinki, and in the last 20 games of the regular season, the big club already finished fourth in the league. Lukko, on the other hand, was only the 11th best club in the same period. In this sense, HIFK’s dominance in the quarterfinals is not a surprise.
– HIFK has come through the hell of the early season, and the booth has compacted into a diamond, when they all had time to bark like a potaluh. I trust coach Ville Peltosee, I also tried to say that here at the Puhee studio during difficult moments. Here we see that patience is rewarded, as long as you believe in your own doing. At Nordis Kotiyleisö has bought the team. There is a lot of excitement ahead on Friday, Lehkonen warned.
SM league quarterfinals:
Lock – HIFK 3–5 (1-3.0-0.2-2)
05.21 1-0 Saarela (Abt, Ervasti)
11.30 1-1 Paajanen (Dyk,Motin)
13.33 1-2 Dyk (Nättinen, Salin) yv
14.21 1-3 Vesalainen (Larsson, Berglund)
49.24 1-4 Pakarinen (Koivistoinen,) yv
52.55 2-4 Karelian (Gregoire) av
53.59 2-5 Pakarinen (Koivistoinen,) yv
57.00 3-5 Karelian (Hakulinen, Repo) im
Goalkeepers Audience: 4232
Zagidul’s 1+ 0+ 0 = 1 –> 14.21
Jukuri 0+ 6+ 7 = 13
Kill 10+10+13 = 33
Wins 0-3