Ässät put on a strong performance in their sold-out home arena and bluntly defeated Tappara, who had been at the top of the series for less than a day, 5–0.
Aces’ power players were Lenny Hämeenaho (1+2) and those who collected the points 1+1 by force Take Ylitalo and played in Tappara from the beginning of the season Arttu Kärki. Niklas Rubin needed 16 saves for his first shutout of the season.
– Aces was the better of the teams today. It’s great to see that Tappara’s fans came in such a big crowd, a proof of the wonderful hockey culture, exclaimed the coach Rikard Grönborg in brief.
– A tough match, the hall was full of activity today, both on the ice and in the stands. An up-and-coming game from us, we got goals at the right moments. A balanced game from us, praised the Ässä coach, who had recovered from sick leave Jarno Pikkarainen.
The SaiPa charm passed from Kisapuisto
SaiPan Otto Kivenmäki and Miska Siikonen were successful in the race for the winning goal, when the full house at Kisapuisto was able to celebrate a 5–4 home win over Kiekko-Espoo according to the long formula. In the process Raimo Helminen the sensation group returned to their place at the top of the series past Tappara.
– Great fencing between the two teams. A lot happened and happened, we are satisfied with two points, SaiPan’s Raimo Helminen commented.
Kiekko-Espoo has won only one of its last six games, SaiPa three of the same number of games. Defender Niko Seppälä (2+0) and attackers Arttu Tuomaala (1+2) and Peter Quenneville (0+3) were the power packs of the Espoo team and at the same time of the match.
– Great event. We’ve tried the wrong things at times lately, but now we had the patience to come back with work overalls on. A step in the right direction, even though we lost with heavy losses, K-Espoon piloted Jyrki Aho inch.
Jukurit took its fourth win in a row by defeating HIFK, which is still suffering from injuries to key players, 5–2.
The home team, which had lost twice, came away with a sweet victory in front of their record home crowd of the season Peter Abandonato, by Kim Johansson, Ludwig Persson, Alexander Ruutu (1+2) and a 20-year-old Aaron Hakalan with the second league goal of his career.
– Jukurit played 60 minutes, we fell short today. In a sensible and high-quality puck game, as well as in the amount of work, the opponent was left behind, he analysed Ville Peltonen.
Jukurit has won six of its eight games in December. For HIFK, the away loss was the Fifth in a row and they have won only two of their last seven games.
Luko’s well-mannered Yankee striker Karson Kuhlman (2+0) stretched his streak to nine games when JYP lost Tomi Lämsän for subordinates with goals 2–5.
Linus Nyman, Henri Ikonen and Ponthus Westerholm accounted for the winners’ other hits. It was JYP’s fourth loss in a row. Lukko has won three of his last four matches.
– We have small problems with the team’s courage, it’s mental. The team does try, but it usually starts to show only in the third set (in a losing situation), JYP’s head coach Johan Pennerborn admitted.
Pelicans suffered a bitter 1-2 overtime loss to Sport in Vaasa. Axel Holmström brought Vaasa to 2–2 at the end of regular time, in 59.47 when playing without a goalkeeper, and Simon Hjalmarsson nailed the overtime scramble into the visitors’ net in 63.54.
The Pelicans have won two of their last four games, Sport ended their three-game losing streak.
– A good away game from us, but at the end a few bad choices in the court, and on the other hand, we didn’t score the third goal offered to us before that, summed up the Pelicans coach Juhamatti Yli-Junnila the bay’s disappointment.
Defender Rautanen in the scoring role of center
After two losing games, Ilves returned to winning ways and beat KalPa for the second time this season, now with a score of 4–1. The solution was seen in the third set, where Ilves was better with three hits.
The one on a ten game scoring streak Matias Mantykivi (1+1) and hit the winning goal with superiority Samuli Ratinen were the heroes of the people of Tampere. Also stopped 19 pucks Dominic Pavlat was one of Ilves’s successes. KalPa has lost six of its eight matches in December.
– A big improvement from yesterday (the Lukko loss), that’s what makes me proud of the team. Now there was more peace and we played together. We were also sometimes successful in the flow of the game. Defender Juho Rautanen scored the third goal today as a center forward. He plays better than many attackers, admired the Ilves coach Tommi Niemelä.
Viljami Marjala (1+2), Henri Knuutinen and Oliver Lauridsen turned the tables for TPS with their goals, which defeated HPK with 4–2 goals in Turku. The fiery Marjala has totaled eight power points in the last three games.
For Tepsi, the win was the third in the last four games, the club’s six-match away streak got a point.
– A difficult start, but the team didn’t let it affect the game. A tight and even match where we had our own problems in the second set. It was noticed again that Turkuhalli is a great place to play when there is such a large audience (8008), rejoiced the TPS coach Tommi Miettinen.
Series table