The point average shows that both teams have a lot of room for improvement.
Petrus Palmu decided in Lahti. Tomi Natri / AOP
Pelicans and TPS met in Lahti in the only match of the Ice Hockey Championship League on Thursday.
The guests from Turku came back from a 0–2 deficit in the third set and took the win with a bang. The only winner of the shooting competition was TPS’ golden helmet Petrus Palmu.
The opening set of the match was goalless, but in the second set, Pelicans’ Czech reinforcements hit Lubos Horky and Michael Jordan.
The Lions coach on MTV Jukka Jalonen raised Horky’s shot from a difficult position to NHL level.
Although TPS leveled up in the third period, the Pelicans were offered victory by almost any means possible. At the end of the third period, the team was able to play with a two-man advantage and also started the extra time with an advantage, but the result did not bring joy to the Lahti crowd.
Even before the TPS match, the Pelicans’ dominance percentage of 12.24 was the worst in the series. At the top of the statistics is JYP with 34.09 percent.
With the win, TPS rose to sixth place in the series. However, it has played more matches than Sport and Kärpät, who are one point behind.
TPS has the second fewest three-point wins in the series, three. Behind is only SaiPa, who has two wins in regular time. On the other hand, TPS has by far the most wins after regular time in the series, seven.
Since the teams have played a significantly different number of matches in the League, the Point Average may tell the teams’ early season better than the actual series ranking.
Measured by point average, TPS is 10th in the series and Pelicans is 12th.