The away win over Sport lifted the Oulu team out of the league’s jumbo place.
Ville Koivunen’s experiment as a center was worth the winning goal. Tomi Natri / AOP
- Kärpät claimed a 2–1 victory over Vaasa.
- Ville Koivunen, who exceptionally played as a center, scored the winning goal at the end.
Kärpät broke the streak of three losses by claiming his first full point pot of the season in Vaasa.
The winning numbers of the people of Oulu were the same as in the opening round of the season, when the home win over Sport was only separated in extra time.
So far, the only wins of the Kärppi season have come from matches against Sport. The losses that fell between them had time to drop Kärpät, which, along with Tappara, operates with the league’s largest player budget (3.25 million euros) into a league jumbo. With the three points, it now went up two notches.
– In the beginning, you could see who won and who lost. In this sport, only victories bring relaxation, Kärppie’s head coach Lauri Marjamäki said at a press conference.
– When it was sorted out, the playing was improved. We were able to play better on the puck and fight better than last time against Sport and in other games.
“The Big Kill”
The solution came in the second half of the third period.
First Sport got its chance when Kärppien Martin Jandus went for a 2+2 minute session, but the visitors’ underpowered crew and goalkeeper Niclas Westerholm solved the forced game of the people of Vaasa.
– It was a big kill and a tough test for us: losses below and four minutes of av. Then Koivunen coughed up the winning goal, Marjamäki thanked him for opening his goal account for the season From Ville Koivuwho mercilessly took advantage of the open space offered by the Sport defense soon after the teams became equal.
Deviating from his normal position as a winger, the Carolina Hurricanes loanee now played as a second-string center.
In an interview with C More, Marjamäki justified the move by saying that the team needs “a different center forward”.
– Our centers are pretty much carved from the same wood, he said, presumably meaning Connor Bunnaman, Joonas from Kemppai, Arttu Hyryä and what was on the sidelines Peter Tiivolaa.
– We would get some virtuosity in that middle lane, and I think that Koivunen is a good choice for that.
At the press conference, Marjamäki said he was happy for the team.
– Of course, joy was at the top of the team, as it should be.
The joy of the game didn’t really affect the Oulu people’s attitude yet, but it is now easier for the team to go to the next match – on Friday in Oulu against SaiPa.
Terrible backlash
Sport’s head coach Risto Dufva was disappointed at the press conference.
– It’s very sad, because the game was extremely even. Just as Kärpät earned that victory, that sandwich that fell off the table could have turned the other way.
Dufva upset the attacker by Simon Hjalmarsson absence from the lineup, which, according to him, was especially evident in the ineffectiveness of the possession game.
In the final set, Sport was close to getting a two-minute 5-3 advantage, when Kemppainen, who was playing for Kärppien’s long understrength, clinched Reece to Scarlett such a terrible bomb that the Canadian’s ankle was broken in a really bad way. However, the judges saw the borderline situation as clean.
Sport probably lost a first-pair defender in Scarlett, but the cause of joy for Vaasa residents was the new acquisition who played as his partner and debuted in the League Zack Hayes.
– He has assured both in training and in games. He will play a very big role in our defense, Dufva praised the 24-year-old Canadian, who has three NHL games under his belt.