Miroslav Forman's goal in overtime was the only one of the game, and broke a deadlock on aggregate, to send Sparta Prague on to the Round of 16. Read more in Gamecentre.
by Derek O'Brien, with contribution from Markus Leskinen
Sparta Prague exacted revenge of the team that knocked them out of the CHL playoffs in heartbreaking fashion last year with a dramatic victory of their own. After 60 scoreless minutes in Oulu – and just one goal each after 120 minutes counting last week in Prague – Miroslav Forman scored in overtime on a nice pass from Petr Vrana to eliminate Karpat Oulu and send Sparta into the Round of 16.
"It feels good to pay back the last year. I wasn't here then but many players were," Vrana said after the game. "It was very tight. We played 1-1 at home. It was very careful play from both sides. Maybe they were sitting back a little bit but we couldn't score a goal and went to overtime. Very tight series."
"I think it was a really tactical game – a really tough game," said Sparta coach Jiri Kalous. "Both teams were waiting for mistakes and in overtime we were lucky, and that's why we're going on."
Sparta had a decided territorial edge in the first half of the opening period, with an early 7-2 shots advantage. Most of the shots came from the outside and Sami Aittokallio didn't have too much difficulty. The best chances of the first period came on a Karpat power play late in the period – Aittokallio with a big save on a partial shorthanded breakaway, and then Tomas Popperle robbing Lasse Kukkonen on a one-timer.
The second period settled into a defensive rhythm, but again the most dangerous chances happened on Karpat's power play – Sparta's Lukas Cingel hit the goalpost shorthanded, and just after the penalty ended Popperle came up with a huge glove save.
Sparta had a few chances on a power play early in the third period, and then the teams played strong defensively, both knowing that the game's first goal might be the last. In 3-on-3 overtime, both goalies came up big again – Popperle on a tricky shot by Miska Humaloja and Aittokallio on a breakaway by Dominik Uher. Neary halfway through the 10-minute frame, Sparta came back in 2-on-1 and Vrana fed Forman, who re-directed it in for the game's only goal.
Vrana described the winning goal: "They went 3-on-2 to our end but our defence did a good job. Me and Forman got a 2-on-1 from there. I saw the defenceman laying down to block the pass so I held it a little longer to open up a pass in front of the goalie. It was a little bit lucky goal I guess but it counts."
“Both teams were great defensively,” acknowledged Karpat coach Kai Suikkanen. “That was our goal, to play well defensively, but it was not our goal to not score any goals. Our offensive game was the problem. I’ve never seen a team win a hockey game without scoring a goal. It was a very, very tight game. They had chances, we had great chances, especially in the second period. We got one 3-on-0 situation, one 2-on-0 situation, and we couldn’t score. So, if you don’t score then the other team usually scores. Too bad, but… they were little bit better, so they earned it. I wish them all the best for the future.”
Sparta's next opponent in the Round of 16 will be HV71 Jonkoping. When informed of that, Kalous responded, "Every team in the CHL is really good, so they won't be easy to play against, but we hope to win."