Espoo wins OT thriller in Rauma

Kärpät Oulu vs HPK Hämeenlinna 3-1

For one period both teams needed to get to know each other, but as soon as the puck dropped for the second period Kärpät remembered why they were the heavy favourites in this play-off series. Juhamatti Aaltonen to Esa Pirnes and the topline from Oulu put their team ahead. But HPK reacted. If they have learned one thing in the last weeks then it is that fighting tends to pay off. 9 minutes later Jere Karjalainen equalled the score. His assistant Aleksi Laakso should later be ejected from the game. Oulu now needed to find a way to regain their lead and they turned to their second scoring line. After almost 50 minutes Julius Junttila scored, setup by Kemppainen and Donskoi. This should finally be the game-winner as Toni Kähkönen only scored another insurance goal with 3 minutes left.

Tappara Tampere vs Lahti Pelicans 3-2

Same picture in Tampere: In the first period both teams needed some time to get adjusted to the play-off picture. Josh Green’s 1-0 after 27 minutes finally changed the game a bit. Elmeri Kaksonen let the second goal for Tappara follow only 6 minutes later, before Vili Sopanen used a penalty against Pasi Puistola right in time, one second before the break, to bring the Pelicans back within one goal. This gave a boost to the team, because with 8 minutes played in the last period Ilkka Pikkarainen got the equalizer for Lahti. Overtime? No! Just two and a half minutes later it was Jarkko Malinen, who regained the lead for Tappara and this time for good.

Lukko Rauma vs Espoo Blues 3-4 OT

Last year Lukko was still the big surprise of the play-offs. This year they ain’t fooling anybody. And as they would need to proof that they stormed out and got two early goals on the board through Teemu Nurmi and Jery Ahtola on the power-play. Only Tomi Sallinen’s answer at the  05:44 mark could stop the Lukko train for a little while. However, Lukko tried the same recipe again and succeded: One minute only was played in the second period when Lauri Tukonen recaptured the 2-goal margin for Rauma. Espoo had to set another sign and this time it was Jussi Makkonen’s turn on a power-play. With a 3-2 score the game dragged on for a while and so subsequently the Blues had to pull the goalie. And indeed, Miro Aaltonen could force the overtime. And this overtime should pay off for Espoo: After 75:50 minutes Matti Järvinen brought the sudden death to Rauma.

SaiPa Lappeenranta vs JYP Jyväskylä 2-1

In Lappeenranta the reigning European Trophy champion found the better start when at minute 05:01 Tuomas Pihlman brought JYP ahead. 6 minutes later they had to test their penalty kill for the first time and it did not work out as planned. Stefano Giliati equalized the game. With that score both teams should feel pretty well for a long time. Until David Spina and Stefano Giliati were back on the ice for another power-play with under 3 minutes to go and decided to avoid an overtime. Both of them collected points on both goals and, even more important, were responsible for SaiPa now leading the series with 1-0 before tomorrow’s rematch.

Tweets by @eurohockey