KalPa took advantage of Ilves’ inefficiency and saved himself from the edge of the abyss.
According to Tommi Niemelä, the efficiency was exhausted. Mika Kylmäniemi / AOP
Tampere Ilves has a large armada of efficient players in its ranks, but it seems that they are not getting the most out of them.
One of these point links is the winner of the defenders point exchange Simon Johansson. However, in Friday’s match against KalPa, he couldn’t shoot with superiority directly from the pass, and Ilves also couldn’t score a goal with superiority.
A solution that seems strange raises the question, why has it ended up like this?
– I try to move on the blue line as best I can. Many times there are simply no shooting positions, but then we try to score in other ways, commented Johansson.
Ilves head coach Tommi Niemelä doesn’t see a problem with Johansson playing as if with a shoulder to the outside with superiority.
– The opponent probably plays in a certain way. After all, “Simppa” has not scored goals directly from a pass this season. He has done it on his wrist.
But wouldn’t Laukominen bring more threat to superiority directly from the pass?
– I think Johansson has scored a lot of goals this season with the advantage that it works really well, Niemelä answered.
Soft defending
KalPa was practically forced to win on Good Friday in Tampere, and in the end they got one for themselves by beating Ilves 4–3.
Friday’s match did not change the overall picture of the quarter-final series. Ilves was again the more dominant team and shot a lot more than Savo.
Both Niemelä and star pack Johansson estimate that Ilves didn’t quite reach the same level as on Tuesday in Kuopio.
– We have to be a little tougher in defense, Johansson said.
– We weren’t quite as mature in the defensive game today as we needed to be. We weren’t able to take the small mental step that should have been taken today, Niemelä summed up.
Especially Jaakko Lantan KalPa’s second goal, in Niemelä’s opinion, was one in which the defense fell asleep.
“Canines shone”
KalPa’s head coach Sami Tervonen on the other hand, radiated satisfaction after the match in the press room of the Nokia Arena.
– The nails were exposed and the canines were shining. We came out looking more like ourselves compared to Kuopio’s game.
As for Ilves, question marks are raised by inefficiency. On Friday, Ilves fired as many as 70 shots at KalPa’s goal, but about half of them missed.
– I don’t think there are 60 top shots in any hockey game. Isn’t that a fairly standard number of how many top plots can be created? We probably had more than 20 good seats today, Niemelä commented on the inefficiency.
The quarter-final series between Ilves and KalPa continues on Monday in Kuopio with Ilves leading 2–1.
