Litvinov gains pole position in Vienna

Already before the game the Vienna Capitals had bad news to announce, as  captain Jonathan Ferland would miss a couple of months because of a hand injury. Adding to that, starting goalkeeper Nathan Lawson had still not fully recovered and was not in the lineup, so David Kickert got the start. Also the Czechs gave their backup goalkeeper Michael Petrasek a chance to make a name for himself.

The 23-year old Austrian though did get a goalie’s nightmare start into the game. 67 seconds were played when the Czechs were on a 2-on-1 situation, the buck bounced off defenceman Troy Milam and Robin Hanzl had the wide open net to score the first goal of the game.

Vienna was looking for the immediate response on the man advantage, but neither Philipp Lakos nor MacGregor Sharp were able to beat Michael Petrasek. If the big boys don’t make it, the fourth line has to step up and this is what they did. Nikolaus Hartl brought the puck on net and Julian Großlechner converted for his only second goal in the Caps' uniform.

In the 10^th minute a slapshot by Fratisek Lukes from the far slot beat Kickert. Jim Boni had seen enough and wanted to to chance the momentum, pulling Kickert in favour of Philipp Zopf. It was only the second appearance in the Capital’s net for the 21 year old and also he would not have the luck on his side. On the 18^th minute he was chanceless on a beatufil cross ice pass by Viktor Hübl, finished by Peter Jansky. Only 15 seconds later the puck was again behind the goal line. A harmless shot from the blue line was stopped by the young Austrian, but the rebound bounced off his own defenceman for the visitors’ 1-4 lead.

Boni opted for another goaltender chance going into the middle frame, bringing Kickert back between the pipes. The Canadian coach might have also had a rather loud intermission speech, as his team definitely came out with more firepower, also giving their goalkeeper much better support.

In the final minute the Capitals also got rewarded for the efforts. First Derek Whitmore was denied by Petrasek’s blocker, but then Rafael Rotter’s wrist shot cut the deficit to two going into the final 20 minutes of of play.

The Czech champions right from the get-go showed that they had no interest in a final period thriller, when Jansky hit the cross bar. If you don’t score the opponent will and so Kurtis McLean made it a one-goal hockey game. The 2400 fans in Albert Schulz Halle almost witnessed the tying goal in the 46^th minute, but Klemen Pretnar’s shot missed the net wide. In the 48^th minute Kickert proved to have found his game again, when he denied Miloslav Horava’s dangerous attempt from the slot area.

The Austrian vice champions were definitely back into this game and Matt Dzieduszyck seemed to have Petrasek beaten, but the 23 year old net minder proved to have cat-like reflexes stopping the one timer.

As the clock was ticking down, the Capitals were pushing for the late tying goal, but they would not make it in time. Though, a one-goal deficit is not a lot in hockey and it will for sure be another clash next Tuesday in the Czech Republic.

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