Ilves brought down Tappara in a dramatic way.
Ilves and Tappara twisted the last Tampere derby of the regular season. Mika Kylmäniemi, AOP
Tappara had a chance to secure a regular season victory in the local game against Ilves, but the golden helmet with tassel ears Oula Palve had a different opinion.
The minor match started with a bang, when Nick Baptiste took Tappara into the lead after only 54 seconds.
Christian Heljangon thanks to the saves, Tappara remained in the lead for a long time, until Palve hit the top post at the end of the second period.
The dramatic turning point of the match happened at the end of the final set, when Tapparan Nick Halloran gave himself an outing.
This backfired on Tappara, as Palve scored his second goal of the evening just barely three seconds before the end of the match. This exploded Ilves’ home crowd into an infernal scream.
Ilves eventually won the match 2–1.
Ilves clearly won the local games this season with 5–1 victories.
Tappara still plays two matches in the regular season and Ilves one. Tampere’s quarterfinal matches will be decided in the so-called wild card round.