The biggest knockout of the ice hockey round was seen in Espoo, when Kärpät claimed a 5–0 victory over Kiekko-Espoo.
Kiekko-Espoo, which played a strong early season, already suffered its third consecutive defeat, when Kärpät beat the home team 5–0. Patrik Virta started the Oulu people’s party after only 21 seconds of the game and for the rest of the season returned to the ranks of the Kärppie Ville Pokka completed the 2–0 goal after 7 minutes of play.
Kärpi had enough width in the attack, as a different player was responsible for each goal. Kiekko-Espoo also had enough shots in the match, but saved 20 times in the match Niclas Westerholm Kärppie’s goal was not to be missed.
– A few successful plays at the right time. Playing was thin, but now the team’s best player Teemu Turunen has returned to the roster. Individual players can also be the turning point, including a defender Marcus Björk has been one, Urheilu’s expert Jesse Saarinen comments on Kärppie’s strong rise in the Kiekkokierros.
TPS beat Pelicans, SaiPa continued its home streak
Pelicans, who defeated SaiPa in the last round, got off to a good start in the TPS match and led the game twice. The home team’s game was confused at times and the goalkeeper Patrik Bartosak even managed to give Turku the third goal of TPS.
The Pelicans were able to go up 3-3 in the second period, but Aarne Intonen The 4–3 goal in the middle of the third period was the winning goal of the match.
In the round, three matches first went to overtime and two to a shootout. League leader SaiPa already won its 11th consecutive home win, but this time through a long formula. SaiPa beat Tappara 3–2 after the winning shootout.
SaiPa’s recent acquisition Henri Nikkanen the first appearance for the home crowd ended with a game penalty for a tackle on the head. SaiPa’s pain continued a good minute later, when Niklas Appelgren took the deuce from the high club.
Tappara thanked for this, and Brother Matti Savinainen led the people of Tampere to the lead with his guidance. The goal was Savinainen’s 300th career league point. Just under two minutes later Christian Tanus took Tappara to a 2–0 lead. SaiPa dominated the final set, and Kim Stromberg shouted the home crowd with a 2–2 goal in 56:55.
There was no goal in overtime, and there were no hits in the shootout. It wasn’t until the sixth pair that we succeeded, but the solution was seen in the eighth pair. There Eero Klintrup succeeded for SaiPa, while John Quenneville failed.
Aces barely better in the “Kasitie derby”
In the Kasitie derby, Sport controlled the match against Ässi nicely, but just like so many times earlier this season, the match went into overtime. Sport has played no less than 14 overtimes this season.
This time there was no overtime goal, and Ässät pulled a longer shot in the winning shootout. Thus, the final result was 2–1 for the people of Pori.
In Jyväskylä, KooKoo already led the match 3–1 at halftime and 4–2 10 minutes before the end of regular time, but the home team leveled up and passed. The visitor didn’t give up either, but Kalle Loponen equalized to 5–5 in 58:59 when the Kouvola players played without a goalkeeper.
Only a good minute of overtime had passed when KooKoo silenced the home crowd. Marcus Davidson scored KooKoo’s 6–5 goal in 61.09.
HPK’s defensive fight was enough against KalPa, as the team already took the third consecutive victory with goals 2–1.
Heikki Silventot was honored
In Tampere, before the start of the match on Wednesday, the actor and musician who died was remembered Heikki from Silventotwho was a well-known supporter of Ilves.
Ilves supporters remembered him with a message that read, referring to the Kummeli sketch: “This man belonged to the best A group. Rest in peace, Heikki.” I was the first to tell about the Ilves supporters’ message MTV.
The match between Ilves and HIFK started later than the others. It’s 0-0 in the third period.