SaiPa seems to have seven souls. SaiPa advanced against Ässien in the quarter-finals of the League right from the edge of the gap by forcefully twisting the series that was already tied 3–2 to Ässien in favor of 4–3. In Pori’s sixth match, Otto Kivenmäki scored the decisive 2–1 winning goal for SaiPa just a couple of minutes before the end of the game. In the deadlock game, SaiPa no longer had any difficulties to continue with a 4–2 victory. SaiPa was against KooKoo in the opening match of the semi-finals on 17.4. completely against the opposition, losing 4–2 (shots 56–36 and expected goals 3.5–2.5) and playing so badly that based on that game it was really hard to believe in the team’s place in the finals. However, the further the KooKoo–SaiPa series has progressed, the better SaiPa has been able to respond to KooKoo’s attack. Above all, Raimo Helminen has pumped SaiPa’s entire team’s defensive play with clearly more strength than in the opening game. In the second game, SaiPa lost at home 3–5, but it was already worth noting in that match that SaiPa took the shots 62–30 and the expected goals 4.5–2.2. As a whole, in the last two games, the expected goals have already been 7.3–4.9 for SaiPa. KooKoo’s place in the finals doesn’t look like a sure thing anymore, but even in this series, the wonderful aroma of a miraculous rise begins to smell.
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