On Tuesday, KalPa showed that it had handled the crushing defeat in the previous semifinal well mentally and narrowed the semifinal wins against Tappara to 1–2. Tappara still led the match after halftime 1–0, but KalPa, who played in an upward direction, deservedly rose Aleksi Elorinten and Aapeli Räsänen with goals for a 2–1 victory.
Before this, Tappara had won all of their home games in the playoffs this spring and a total of 12 of their previous home games in Tampere, so we can talk about quite a bit of away robbery for KalPa.
The hero of the match was KalPa defender Elorinne, who was involved in many games, who scored a 1-1 equalizer in the second period and got a decisive goal for Tappara in the third period. Räsänen steered from the back post for the ensuing superiority Jaakko Rissanen from a brilliant pass in the 2–1 winning goal in 45:38.
– We improved our playing in the second set and in the third we were really good. We created so many goal chances that they should have decided the match earlier. Even a victory like this is fine, said KalPa’s head coach in English Petri Karjalainen in the media exam.
Two special, questionable situations spoke
Tappara got the puck into the goal 3.3 seconds before the end, but the equalizer was not accepted due to interference from the goalkeeper. The matter was investigated for a long time on videos.
Defender of KalPa Jesper Mattila pushed and rhymed with a cross stick Veli-Matti Savinainen KalPa goalkeeper Stefanos Lekkas on.
– Mattila massively blocked Savinai, but it would have been one chance for him to get out of the situation. You have to give the goalkeeper a chance to save, that didn’t happen now. The grounds for rejection were there, commented the expert Top Nättinen.
The hit would have been allowed if Savinainen had tried to leave the goal area. Instead, he grabbed KalPa Mattila’s head and kind of stayed in the situation.
Tapparan Oiva Keskinen directed a 1–0 goal with his skates even when KalPa’s goal fell, when a KalPa defender tackled Keskisti at the same time in 10:31.
The situation caused confusion because Keskinen could interpret the kicking motion, based on which the goal can and must be rejected in certain situations.
However, in the rulebook it is written in the case of kicking that a kicking movement that can be observed in video reviews is an act where it can be clearly seen from the video that the attacking player intentionally moves the puck by kicking it and the puck goes into the goal as a result.
Based on the slow-motion picture, Keskinen did not kick the puck into the goal on purpose.
In the second half, only one goal was seen, when defender Elorinne came up from the corner with determination to score and with great confidence, KalPa scored a 1-1 equalizer in time 34:51 into Tappara’s net and past Christian Heljangon.
KalPa’s gold helmet, 21 years old Juuso Mäenpää was passing the equalizer, and at the same time the playoff match was already the 10th consecutive season for him in which he reached points. Mäenpää has 2+12=14 points, as does the chain friend, the 20-year-old Oliver Kapasella (7+7=14).
In the end, Tappara didn’t deserve the win, playing surprisingly sloppy from the midway point of the match, and the more willing KalPa took an important catch. Defender of Tappara Olli Juolevin an exceptionally bad demolition with understrength led KalPa to a decisive 2-1 winning goal.
– The opponent was better in the second half of the game. We played a good understrength, we had an easy place to break even in that single setback. “That (bad puck) was what finally separated the teams today,” summed up Tappara’s Swedish pilot Rikard Grönborg.
Flies in the claws of the anemic Pelicans
Pelicans defended brilliantly and won for the third time in a row in the semi-finals, now with a score of 1–0. Kärpät is at a loss in the series with wins of 0–3. Pelicans’ first stop is on Friday in Oulu.
– A lot of emotion and a good look, as a head coach you can’t ask for more from the players. Pelicans was again strong in front of the goals, said Kärppie’s coach Ville Mäntymaa.
Defender of flies Martin Jandus chased the Pelicans to no avail at the very beginning of the match Miika to Roine on the back and gave the home team an advantage right away, which it did not miss.
In the Pelicans’ first advantage Lars Bryggman steered in front of the goal Patrik Carlsson into the upper corner of the pass in time 03:59.
In the most talked about situation of the round, the Pelicans defender Filip Kralin the Kärppä attacker took the stick Ville Koivunen between the legs, but no penalty was awarded for the situation.
– It’s amazing that you didn’t even go to see it, when the bat landed in an arcane place, on the eggs. That could even lead to a ban. When there is an opportunity to check situations, why wasn’t it watched on video, ‘s expert Topi Nättinen wondered.
Kärpät improved his playing a little in the last two sets, but it still didn’t have too much to do with the top spots.
Koivunen slipped through the drive Arttu Hyryn thanks to an ingenious billiard pass, but Niklas Kokko zeroed out one of the few top spots for Kärppie in the 30th minute. Kokko has stopped opponents’ pucks in the playoffs with an almost sensational 93.05 percent.
The home team Juhamatti Aaltonen licked the puck from a half drive into the Kärppie post at the end of the second set.
Tommi Niemelän the defenders have shown their discipline, for example, by the fact that the team has taken a total of only five ices in the three semi-finals, today the hatch of the penalty box opened once for the Pelicans.
The Kärppi’s feared superiority crew has not even been able to properly warm up in the semifinals.
– A similar battle as the previous semi-finals, it was tight. A good opening set and I’m happy with that. In the second set, our game fell apart a bit, but we held on. The strong desire is to work for the team. He was able to play all four courts very well, said Niemelä.
Marked in the original grouping Julius Junttila is not in the Kärppie lineup, nor in the second chain. Julius Hermonen had been raised Peter Tiivolan and by Connor Bunnaman alongside.
The 3rd semi-finals of the Ice Hockey Championship League (with four wins to the final):
Tappara – KalPa 1-2 (1-0.0-1.0-1)
10.31 1-0 Central (Halloran, Savinainen)
34.51 1-1 Elorinne (Mäenpää, O Kapanen)
45.38 1-2 Räsänen (Rissanen) yv
Goalkeepers: Audience: 8841
Heljanko 11+ 4+ 9 = 24
Lekkas 4+ 5+ 7 = 16
Wins 2–1
Pelicans- Flies 1-0 (1-0.0-0.0-0)
03.59 1-0 Bryggman (Carlsson, Kral) yv
Goalkeepers: Audience: 3503
Total 5+12+ 4 = 21
Bear 7+ 8+ 1 = 16
Wins 3–0
Fourth semi-finals on Friday 12.4. in Kuopio and Oulu.