After falling behind 2-0 against visiting Kölner Haie, Kärpät Oulu had to battle back and eventually won in a shootout. However, Kärpät defenceman Adam Masuhr thinks that his team definitely could have played better.

by David Micke

OULU - Resurrection. Finnish champion Kärpät Oulu experienced hard times in its third CHL game against Kölner Haie. Despite falling behind two goals, however, the club from northern Finland managed to overwhelm its German oponent in a shootout 3-2.

"It was challenging. Actually, we didn’t play the game that we were supposed to, said Swedish defenceman Adam Masuhr, who tied the score.

After a scoreless first period in which Kärpät held the edge in play, it was Köln that scored twice in the second. Despite holding a 20-14 shots advantage, the home side went to their dressing room down two goals.

“We know Kärpät can play hard and we were little bit shaky in the beginning and didn’t have a good start but in a second period we gained a 2-0 lead,“ said young German forward Marcel Ohmann, who scored the second goal.

“We weren’t desperate. We just thought that we lost our edge, game, maybe momentum,"said Masuhr. "Of course they could push us then. At the same time I thought thet we were settling down to much, got too comfortable in our position, so they scored two. But we got ourselves together in the third and bounced back.“

Joonas Kemppainen with his one timer got Kärpät closer and Masuhr got the better of goalkeeper Aus den Birken with his bomb-shot on the power play and equalised it with 7:15 left in regulation time.

Köln's defence semeed to be insurmountable for a long time but Ohmann admited that his team wasn’t able to resist Kärpät’s huge pressure anymore in the third period.

"They came pretty hard in the third," he said. "They were all over us, it was a tough time for us. Then we got two goals, but defensive hockey is our style and we have to continue like that in our upcoming games."

Masuhr agreed that it wasn’t easy to play against the German team but he rather thought that his team had itself to blame for the deficit.

"They were doing a great job but I think that we didn’t use our speed and skill. We know what we have to do and what bring to the next game.“

After Masuhr’s equaliser, Kärpät continued to press but more goals didn’t come, not even during overtime. Finally, the crowd of more than 5000 were able to celebrate after an eight-round shootout, in which Joonas Donskoi’s three goals made the diference.