To open Tuesday's action, HC Bolzano and Tappara Tampere both got road wins in the Czech Republic, while SaiPa Lappeenranta leaped into first place with a shutout win over EV Zug and JYP Jyvaskyla did likewise with a shootout win over HV71 Jonkoping.
JYP Jyvaskyla 4–3 HV71 Jonkoping (SO)JYP Jyvaskyla move into first place, temporarily one point ahead of Red Bull Salzburg, with a 4–3 shootout victory over HV71 Jonkoping. JYP scored twice in the first period, HV71 twice in the second, and the teams traded goals in the third. Jani Tuppurainen led JYP's offence with three points and Cramo Top Scorer Eric Perrin scored the shootout winner. Captain Ted Brithen scored twice for HV71, whose playoff hopes are now very remote. "We knew we are going to face a really good team," JYP head coach Marko Virtanen said afterward. On the fact that his team was often shorthanded and all three HV71 goals were scored on the power play, he said, "We didn't take stupid penaltiess, they made us take penalties. Eventhough they played really good on the power play, I am not happy with our penalty killing."
SaiPa Lappeenranta 3–0 EV ZugWith a dominant first period in which they out-shot EV Zug 19–4, SaiPa Lappeenranta scored twice, then played solid defence the rest of the way to earn the 3–0 win. Simo-Pekka Riikola had a goal and an assist and Jussi Markkanen made 12 saves for the shutout. The win vaults SaiPa over Zug into first place in Group D, two points clear, setting up a huge Game Day 6 for both clubs.
Ocelari Trinec 1–2 Tappara TampereOcelari Trinec could have clinched first place in Group E and were four minutes away from earning at least a point, but Olli Palola's power-play goal with 3:21 to play earned Tappara Tampara three points on a road and a chance to win the group with a home-ice win on Game Day 6. After two scoreless periods, Martn Adamsky opened the scoring for Trinec in the 42nd minute and Cramo Top Scorer David Kolomatis tied it six minutes later. "I enjoyed the game very much, it was my first game in a Tappara jersey," said ecstatic 20-year-old netminder Dominik Hrachovina, who stopped 31 of 32 shots. "The coach came to me yesterday evening and told me that I will be the goalkeeper. I love hockey, I even wasn't nervous. Maybe it was my first game for Tappara but it's still a hockey game." "It was a very bad game by us," said an understandably disappointed Vaclav Varada, the Trinec assistant coach. "Tappara had a lot of scoring chances and we weren't able to put any pressure on them. We managed to score the first goal of the game, but after that we didn't play well enough to win it. We made a big mistake just before Tappara's first goal, then they scored a beautiful power-play goal."
HC Pardubice 1–3 HC BolzanoAfter a poor start, HC Bolzano continue to improve, earning a 3–1 win in Pardubice to secure no lower than third place in Group F. Marco Insam scored twice, including the game-winner that broke a 1–1 tie early in the second period, then an empty-netter in the late going. Bolzano goalie Jaroslav Hrubl, a Czech, was impressive again, stopping 28 of 29 shots. |