Pelicans beat HIFK 4-3 and advanced to the semi-finals against Kärppi of Oulu. The people of Lahti have the home advantage in the series starting on Friday, April 5.
Pelicans cleared their way to the semi-finals of the hockey SM league after dramatic stages. Lars Bryggman became the hero of the stoppage time when the Swedish striker first brought the Pelicans to 3–3 and then completed the 4–3 winning shot against HIFK from in front of the goal in 58:57.
– Bryggman decided today, but the whole series has to be seen as a whole. Two very even teams fought hard against each other. We had a small advantage, perhaps, in that our attacking game was more versatile and faster. Today we continued to grind and got a great result, described the head coach of Pelicans Tommi Niemelä.
HIFK still led the decisive match with a score of 3–2 for a good ten minutes before the end.
In addition to Bryggman (2+1), his chain mate Ryan Lasch (1+2) took on the role of the solver.
– The Pelicans’ first chain made headlines in the stoppage game, eight power points in total for the entire court. When the credit field succeeds so well in the decisive match, then the team wins with a high probability, expert Top Nättinen reminded.
The Pelicans pulled the rug from under their feet with some terrible defensive mistakes in the opening minute of the third period. Ville Peltonen the underdogs needed only one minute and five seconds to score two goals at the beginning of the final set.
First, forgotten in front of the goal Juha Jääskä brought HIFK to 2–2 and immediately after the HIFK defender Luke Martin got out of the second wave, completely free to shoot a 3–2 lead goal for HIFK.
– In that situation, it doesn’t matter what the scoreboard says, but that we have to be able to play better and thereby find better opportunities and scoring chances. Today it worked out perfectly, said Pelicans coach Niemelä.
HIFK experienced the hard way how difficult it is in the end to win the series after losing three consecutive quarterfinals.
Only one team in the history of the hockey SM league has advanced from a 0–3 situation to the playoffs. In the spring of 2012, Espoo Blues lost the first three matches against Kuopio KalPa in the quarter-finals, but advanced to the semi-finals with a 4–3 victory.
– It just wasn’t enough, a tight series. It’s really sad when we still struggled to take the lead. I must say that Pelsut played a good, active game throughout the series. They were better now, but we definitely had the edge today to turn the game around, Juha Jääskä, who scored 1+1 for HIFK, stated.
Pelicans- HIFK 4-3 (0-0,2-1,2-2)
29.19 1-0 Lasch (Carlsson, Bryggman)
32.36 1-1 Väänänen (Jääskä, Bourque) av
36.04 2-1 Jordan (Puutio, Lasch)
40.30 2-2 Jääskä (Marleau)
41.05 2-3 Martin (Nättinen, Pakarinen)
49.26 3-3 Bryggman (Schnarr, Lasch) yv
58.57 4-3 Bryggman (Kral, Carlsson)
Goalkeepers Audience: 4403
Total 2+ 4+ 8 = 14
Hovinen 7+ 9+13 = 29
Pelicans won 4–3 to the semifinals.
SM-LIAGAN SEMI-Rounds (with 4 wins to the finals):
Fri 5.4.
Tappara – KalPa 18.30
Pelicans-Kärpät 18.30
Sat 6.4.
KalPa – Tappara 17.00
Kärpät-Pelicans 17.00
Tue 9.4.
Tappara – KalPa 18.30
Pelicans-Kärpät 18.30
Thu 12.4.
KalPa – Tappara 18.30
Kärpät-Pelicans 18.30
If necessary:
Fri 13.4.
Tappara – KalPa 18.30
Pelicans-Kärpät 18.30
Sun 15.4.
KalPa – Tappara 17.00
Kärpät-Pelicans 17.00
Tue 17.4.
Tappara – KalPa 18.30
Pelicans-Kärpät 18.30