SaiPa Lappeenranta need only one point to wrap up Group H and advance to the playoff round of the Champions Hockey League. However, according to centre David McIntyre, the team is headed to Vitkovice not with this modest goal in mind, but rather to win.

by Kalle Mantere

LAPPEENRANTA - While they lead Group H in Champions Hockey League play, SaiPa Lappeenranta have also started their Finnish domestic schedule very well. After eight Liiga games they are tied for first place with another CHL team, KalPa Kuopio.

One of the reasons why the team from the east coast of Finland is doing so well is its second line, consisting of the league leader in points Dave Spina, hard-working winger Tommi Jokinen and Canadian centerman David McIntyre. In CHL play, Spina and McIntyre are tied for the team points lead with six each.

Entering the season on a two-game losing streak, SaiPa are back on the winning track with a 6-2 home win against the newly promoted Sport Vaasa club. McIntyre talked afterward about the game and about the upcoming important CHL contest against Vitkovice Ostrava on Tuesday.

You didn't seem to have many problems against Sport, even though you hadn't scored a goal in over 123 minutes. Did you have to change something in your approach to this game?

Not really. We just wanted to keep our work ethic right, keep the game simple and stick to our game plan. There were still a couple of times in the game when we let our guard down a little bit and gave them momentum, but we managed to get it back.

You lost two games in a row. What do you think was the reason for that after such a good start?

I think we were just doing a little too much of everything in those last two games. We needed to get our focus back on the game and keep it simple. Win more battles and get the pucks on net and this time our hard work paid off. When we do that we should put the puck in the back of the net more often.

Was there any pressure on you, offence-wise, as you hadn't produced any goals lately?

It's just the way it goes. Points are a funny thing. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't. Everybody was due to score as we were two games without any goals, so finally we got the monkey off our backs.

Your line with Dave Spina and Tommi Jokinen was involved with four out of six goals today and almost one third of team's total points during the season. (Also one third in the CHL, 13 points out of 39). Do you have a secret that we don't know about?

Not really. We just have good chemistry on the line, sometimes it's off, like the past two games we struggled as well. Today we just did everything properly and better, found each other better and when that happens we seem to do well.

On Tuesday you face Vitkovice in your last game of the group stage in the CHL. You only need one point to clinch a playoff spot.

One point? I don't think there's anyone in the locker room that cares about just one point. If we win and we play our best, that's great, but I mean, all we can do is go out there and do our best. We're not going out there to get just one point, we want to go there to get all three.

As you are in first place in both leagues, how far do you think this team can go in the CHL?

It's hard to say. As I said, momentum is a funny thing. If we keep it rolling, stay confident and keep working hard this team can go as far as it wants to go. Unfortunately after the last round of the group stage, if you lose, you're pretty much done, so we need to keep winning. If at some point we lose, hopefully we can bounce back from that.