Yesterday the league’s top team, Lukko, beat Ilves, so tonight was time for some revenge. Ilves played better than last time and challenged Lukko goalie Lassi Lehtinen, but the result was still the same, 4–1 for Lukko.
Home team Lukko started well with sharp passing, but Ilves hung on. Ilves didn’t even get shaken up by Tuomas Salmela getting shoved headfirst into the Lukko bench. Ilves got to play on the powerplay twice, but to no avail.
The teams seemed quite evenly matched, but Ilves continued to struggle with finishing their plays. Both teams got chances on breakaways, but only Lukko’s Kristian Pospisil scored, 1–0, at 14:36.
Ilves tried even harder after this, but a hectic situation in front of the Lukko net resulted only in a shot to the post.
A night of great hockey
Ilves sought for control of the game at the start of the second period. Aleksi Elorinne’s fantastic wrist shot evened the score when only 45 seconds were played. Ilves looked better and better as the period went on.
The game continued very fast-paced and went coast to coast. Ilves played well in the offensive zone and created a ton of great scoring chances, but Lehtinen denied every single one.
Ilves goalie Ville Kolppanen got to show off his skills, too, when he brilliantly saved a Lukko player’s one-timer in the last seconds of the period.
Lukko capitalizes on powerplays, Ilves doesn’t
Third period started with a slightly slower tempo than the second but with good intensity, nonetheless. Lukko was rewarded with a powerplay goal at 47:02, score now 2–1, and Ilves was the chaser once again.
There were a lot of penalties for Ilves in the third. Joona Ikonen’s penalty seven minutes before the end turned out to be regrettable, as Pospisil scored his second goal of the night during it. Lukko extended their lead to 3–1.
Ilves pulled Kolppanen early, but Lukko quickly found a way to score in the empty net. Lukko 4, Ilves 1, and Ilves has to head home thinking about new strategies for beating the league leader.
