ZSC Lions only need 1 more victory after 5:2 win over Kloten Flyers

The starting minutes of game 3 were rather quiet, a few shots on each side to warm up the goalies. 6 minutes were played when the Flyers had too many men on the ice. The Lions didn't mess around and scored the first goal of the game. Gerber didn't look too good in that situation, he was far out of his crease and had no chance of saving that puck. Jan Tabaceks pass to Cunti was perfectly timed. And to make things a bit more difficult for Kloten, it was Morris Trachsel who returned from his suspension and scored the second goal of the evening, assisted by Robert Nilsson and Severin Blindenbacher. In the 12th minute Kloten got a chance for a powerplay as Keller was assessed with High Sticking but the Flyers weren't cold blooded enough, waited for the perfect chance that didn't come and so the score remained 2:0. 4 minutes later Senteler was assessed with a minor for Holding. The picture stayed the same, rarely any chances were created by the powerplay formation.

Period 2 was underway when Cunti scored the 3rd and probably game deciding goal in the second minute assisted by Jan Tabacek and Roman Wick. But only 36 seconds later it was Captain Victor Stancescu assisted by Cyrill Bühler who scored the first goal for the Flyers of the evening. 7 minutes were played when Frick was stickhandled from behind by Captain Matthias Seger and was assessed with a 4 minute penalty. With about a minute played the game was interrupted due to the game clock not working but it was quickly fixed. The Flyers had a short period where they had some pressure on Lukas Flüeler but a stupid mistake by the Flyers formation made it possible for Dan Fritsche to break away with some fast strides and score a short handed goal on Martin Gerber. A goal was urgently needed but not even the 4 minute powerplay inspired the Flyers to get the second goal. Instead, Philip Schelling was assessed with a 2 minute minor for Roughing but no further goal was scored. Micki Dupont seamlessly added another penalty for Roughing, again, as 34 minutes were played. 17 minutes were played in the second period when the Flyers defense couldn't get the puck under control in their own zone and Mathias Seger, assisted by Bärtschi and Geering, shoved the puck over the line after skating behind the goal as Martin Gerber was once again beaten, on the floor.

With the start of the last period Martin Gerber was replaced by Jonas Müller in goal for the Flyers. 5 minutes into the period Chris Baltisberger sat down for Obstruction, other than 2 shots on Flüeler was everything Kloten had to give. Halftime in the 3rd period, Jan Tabacek was benched for Delay of the Game and seconds later Tommi Santala was sent to cool down with a '2 + '2 for High Sticking. With the last 2 minutes approaching the crowd paid their respect and stood for the rest of the game as this was possibly the last home game of the season. The second goal for the Flyers was just a cosmetic adjustment on the scoreboard as Peter Mueller scored 34 seconds before the end of the game.

The 3rd victory in a row means that the Lions will have a chance to sweep the Flyers with a 4th win. This has only happened once since introducing the best-of-seven format in 1997/1998 when HC Davos beat the Lions 4:0 in 2001/2002. This load might be a little to heavy for the Flyers to carry as they need to win 4 games in a row to clinch the 6th title which seems very unlikely after the performance of this 3rd game.

Klotens Martin Gerber wasn't a factor in this game, his blocked shots turned to unpredictable rebounds and the Lions were quick to create some dangerous chances and score on those. The first line forwards, Mueller, Bieber and Santala weren't very effective either. The shots on goal were predictable and none of the Flyers were ready for rebounds once a shot actually got that far, most of the time they were busy trying to hold up with the high pacing Lions. It was also obvious that the Flyers only played with 6 defensemen, Patrick von Gunten is dearly missed but unclear if he will return in this series.

Referees: Stefan Eichmann, Danny Kurmann
Linesmen: Roger Arm, Peter Küng

Spectators @Hallenstadion: 11'200 (sold out)

1. 1:0 7. Cunti (Tabacek, Powerplay), 2:0 8. Trachsler (Nilsson, Blindenbacher), 22. 3:0 Cunti (Tabacek, Wick), 22. 3:1 Stancescu (Bühler), 4:1 29. Fritsche (Trachsler, Shorthanded), 5:1 37. Seger (Bärtschi, Geering), 5:2: 60. Mueller

ZSC Lions: Flüeler; Geering, Stoffel; McCarthy, Seger(C); Tabacek, Blindenbacher (A); Schnyder, Baltisberger; Kenins, Shannon (A), Keller; Wick, Cunti, Bärtschi; Bastl, Trachsler, Nilsson; Schäppi, Senteler, Fritsche.
Injured: Marc-André Bergeron

Kloten Flyers: Gerber, Müller; Dupont, Frick; Blum, Schelling; Randegger, Vandermeer; Hoffmann, Leone; Bieber, Santala, Mueller; Steinmann, Liniger (A), Bodenmann; Stancescu (C), Romano Lemm, Bühler; Aurelio Lemm, Jenni (A), Herren.
Injured: von Gunten, Stoop, Dubois

SOG by period:
ZSC:  1. 10 / 2. 14 / 3. 7
KF:   1. 14 / 2. 12 / 3. 11

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