ZSC Lions win home opener in playoff final

02 Apr 2015 | Andreas Reiner

For a while, it looked as if Davos would be able to keep up the pace but the Lions capitalised on the few good chances they were given.

For a journalist, it's quite easy to define when the playoff final is on it's way. It's when there's a bunch of people you've never seen at a single press conference during the regular season showing up.

The Lions have the chance in this final to repeat their double they had achieved over 10 years ago when they won in the years 2000 and 2001. Last year Zurich beat the Kloten Flyers in four straight games to claim the championship title.

The players were greeted by an ocean of flags and a sell-out crowd and the national anthem which is only played during the final series. You were able to feel that this wasn't just anther game, the intensity during the starting minutes was high with both teams attacking and creating scoring chances. One of the better chances occured when top scorer Roman Wick missed the goal by centimeters in the top left corners with less than 5 minutes left in the opening period. Event hough the first period ended goalless it was intense nonetheless.

Davos' Samuel Walser was the first player to take a seat in the box for hooking after 23 minutes but the Lions offense couldn't capitalise on their one-man advantage. 27 minutes were played when Ryan Shannon was able to escape his defender and score on a pass by Robert Nilsson. Instantly, coach Arno Del Curto took a time out to cool off the emotions but it just got more hectic, after a quick brawl in front of Genoni's goal the game went on. With less than 2 minutes to be played, Genoni let a shot by Reto Schäppi pass to make it 2-0 for the home team.

It seemed that in the closing period, Davos had resigned early. The pressure was missing to somehow impress the Lions defense and at halftime of the 3rd period it was Ryan Keller with his first goal and Robert Nilsson also with his second assist. This game was over for Davos, they had fought for a long time, had the chances but in the end, it was the Lions who netted the puck for the first win of this best-of-seven series.

Marc Crawford on the game: "It was a game that had a lot of pace to it and I thought that our guys really felt it at the end of the first period but Davos does that too they play a real quick game, they move the puck well so you got to be on your toes when they're playing. You know, I thought tonight we got a real good goaltending performance by Lukas (Flüeler) and we scored timely goals and that made the difference in the game. Especially that third goal was a great individual play by Ryan Keller and when you get a goal like that, it can energize your team even more and in the third period that was really important."

Was the first period the fastest you've seen so far in Swiss hockey?
"Yeah, it was really quick paced, I usually judge by our players and our players were like "wow that was pretty fast". It's not a surprise, they played a very, very quick game."

Is it more fun to watch such a game as a coach?
"I think as a coach you'd like every game to be a blow-out early. You know, the games are what they are, you gotta be prepared in tight games, you have to be prepared to fight back."

ZSC Lions: Flüeler, Leimbacher; Tallinder, Geering; Nilsson, Shannon (A), Keller; Smith, Seger (C); Wick, Cunti, Bärtschi; Siegenthaler, Blindenbacher (A); Schäppi, Trachsler, Künzle; Neuenschwander, Stoffel; Bastl, Malgin, Baltisberger / Injured/Reserve: Schlegel, Schnyder, Bergeron, Boltshauser, Fritsche, Tabacek, Senteler

HC Davos: Genoni, Senn; Du Bois (A), Guerra; Wieser (A), Von Arx Reto, Ambühl (C); Forster, Heldner; Paulsson, Lindgren, Wieser; Hofmann, Von Arx Jan, Axelsson, Walser, Sciaroni; Paschoud, Schneeberger; Jörg, Corvi, Simion / Injured/Reserve: Redenbach, Koistinen, Aeschlimann, Jung, Camperchioli