Dynamo Pardubice have opened their CHL campaign with a 3-2 shootout victory over Frolunda Gothenburg. Read more in Gamecentre.
After two disastrous CHL campaigns with some agonizingly close defeats, Dynamo Pardubice have gone a long way to exorcising those demons with a shootout win over the defending champions Frolunda Gothenburg.
Over 65 minutes of hockey, Frolunda held the edge in play and a 2-1 margin in shots (32-16), but Brandon Maxwell, who surrendered two last-minute-winning goals in last year's CHL, was brilliant, particularly in the first two periods. Despite that, the teams traded goals each of the first two frames and were tied 2-2 after 40 minutes. After a defensively-played third period and overtime, the game was decided by a shootout.
Michal Tomasek and Justin Hodgman scored on Pardubice's third and fourth penalty shots, while Maxwell stopped Frolunda's first three attempts. Their fourth shooter was Mats Roselli-Olsen, who went upstairs and hit the bottom of the crossbar. In a dramatic finish, the referees went to video replay, where it was determined that the puck stayed out, so the game was over.
"We found the way to win a game against a top team which can play hockey at the highest level," Pardubice coach Peter Draisaitl said of his team's win against the defending European champions. "We didn't do everything right in this game because it's not possible in hockey. We weren't able to do all the things we talked about before the game. The third period was much better from us – we had a lot of chances on the power play – and in the end we were luckier in the shootout."
Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg was overall not pleased by his team's offensive output in the two games in Wolfsburg and Frolunda – two goals each game. "We made it tough on ourselves because we didn't score. We had chances on the power play but we didn't finish," he said. "I'm not satisfied at all because we need to find a way to be more effective. They were really good defensively today but we need to find a way to be more effective."