An even match of the 1st playoff round of the Norwegian Hockey Championship League was decided in the third period in Kuopio, when KalPan brought up, Sport’s defense now lute Teemu Suhonen fatally lost the puck in his own end.
Juuso Mäenpää took away a game tool and offered a place in front of the goal Oliver Kapanenwho made no mistake in the top spot after taking KalPa to a 2–1 lead in 56:32.
At the end of the match KalPan Benjamin Korhonen suti still from behind the goal, from below zero corner the puck goalkeeper Miroslav Svobodan through the equipment to the finish line in 58.36 and Jesper Mattila sealed the final numbers to 4–1.
– If you only watch the final result on teletext, you won’t get the right picture of the match. In a 1-1 situation, the game could have gone anywhere without that one cardinal egging. After that, KalPa still got a pretty cheap third goal. KalPa was patient and grinded well, it brought results today, ‘s expert Top Nättinen comment.
Sport led the game for 13 seconds
In the second set, Sport was momentarily in the home team’s washing machine, until by Sebastian Stålberg a little composure on the blue line created a scoring opportunity for the one who hit the puck in front of the goal for Axel Holmström, who got a hit in 32:50. However, the joy of the people of Vaasa was short-lived.
KalPan Aleksi Elorinne produced a quick counter just 13 seconds from the opening goal. The defender, who is playing in his seventh playoff season, greedily supported the counterattack and was able to score the second playoff hit of his career to make the score 1–1. The puck went a little too easily into the top corner past Sport goalkeeper Svoboda.
– Game-wise, we sometimes had challenges, but there was a lot of good in the match. There was room for improvement in Vaasa. It must have been eight years since my last playoff goal, which came in the final. It had been a long time, Elorinne grinned.
Sport has now played a total of five playoff matches in the League, and has not yet won the first spring match.
Before Friday, Sport had led the match in the playoffs for a total of three minutes and 44 seconds, when in 2016 the team led the second match against TPS momentarily 1–0. Today, 13 seconds were added to that balance.
Antoine Morand too much for TPS
The one who scored the 3–2 winning goal of the decisive overtime into TPS’s net, two goals Antoine Morand became Luko’s hero in the playoffs opening in Rauma.
The decision of the overtime was already seen in the second minute, when the Turku Palloseura, who had collapsed in the match, surrendered during the delayed penalty in 62:30.
The Canadian forward, who played the first 40 games of the season in SaiPa, lived up to the expectations placed on him. Morand guided Luko to a 1–0 lead in 4:29. Pitchers were marked to hit Tarmo Reunanen and Gabriel Fontaine.
TPS’s 193-centimeter forward Kalle Väisänen received a tool in the middle sector and with a high-quality wrist shot, he sent it to the top corner of the puck, leveling the numbers at 1–1 in 9:42. The playoff goal was the first in his career for the 21-year-old player.
Rauman Luko’s only hometown player, in the top four Niklas Ylitalo beat a TPS player in the corner and was able to finish with a timely rise to the goal past the puck past the goalkeeper by Filip Lindberg in time 12.38. For Ylitalo, the playoffs hit was the first of his career. They did the preliminary work for the 2–1 hit Harri Kainulainen and Kalle Ervasti.
Dressing room goal from TPS, Lukko won the rest of the game
Luko’s stoppage defender Reunanen took a 2+2 minute 18 seconds before the end of the second period from a high stick. TPS punished just seven seconds later. Viljami Marjala primed a 2-2 draw where Markus Nurmi spun near the goal with superior strength to score in 39:49.
– The start was bad for us in terms of results, even though we dominated the game for long stretches. We played quite well at times, but numerous freezes messed up our game too much, TPS pilot Tommi Miettinen worried but promised a new, better look for Saturday.
Luko’s coach Tomi Lämsa was naturally the more satisfied of the two in the media exam.
– An upbeat game from us. We were good and sharp in front of the goal. In the third period, there were chances to tie the game, but the opponent’s goalkeeper was good at that point. A good and important goal in the overtime, said Lämsä.
1st round of the playoffs (with 2 wins to the quarterfinals):
KalPa–Sport 4–1 (0–0, 1–1, 3–0)
32.50 0–1 Holmström (Stålberg)
33.03 1–1 Elorinne (Korhonen, Räsänen)
56.32 2–1 O Kapanen (Mäenpää)
58.36 3–1 Korhonen (Rissanen, O Kapanen)
59.45 4–1 Mattila et al
Goalkeepers Audience: 4043 Lekkas 3+9+5=17
Svoboda 4+9+9=22
KalPa leads the series 1–0, the second match at 17:00 on Sunday in Vaasa
Lock – TPS je 3–2 (2-1,0,0-0,1-0)
04.29 1-0 Morand (Reunanen, Fontaine)
09.42 1-1 Väisänen (Wernblom)
12.38 2-1 Ylitalo (Kainulainen, Ervasti)
39.49 2-2 Nurmi (Marjala,Lindroth) yv
62.30 3-2 Morand (Nyman,Reunanen) sr
Goalkeepers Audience: 3932
Gibson 7+ 4+ 6 = 17
Lindberg 5+ 6+11 = 22
Lukko leads the series with a 1-0 win, the second match at 17:00 on Saturday in Turku.