KalPa beat Ilves 4–3.
KalPa defeated Ilves on Friday evening. Mika Kylmäniemi / AOP
Kuopio KalPa got an important away win from Tampere by defeating Ilves with 4-3 goals and reduced the quarter-final series to 1-2.
We had to wait for the opening goal almost until the middle of the match. KalPan Lasse Lappalainen broke the copper in 29:32, but Ilves responded quickly when Radek Kučerík equalized just over a minute later.
After that, the game waved from end to end and both teams succeeded in scoring.
In terms of the game, the decisive situation was seen in 53:57, when Andreas Okany cannoned the visitors to a 3–2 lead with superiority. When Ilves is looking for an equalizer without a goalkeeper Jaakko Rissanen finished the score 4–2 into an empty net.
However, the people of Tampere did not give up, but Luke Henman reduced the time in 58.42 and increased the tension in the final moments. However, the tie did not happen, and KalPa took its opening win of the series.
“The Red Dress”
KalPa head coach Sami Tervonen exorcises his own mistakes. Mika Kylmäniemi/AOP
Ilves clearly controlled the shooting statistics and shot no less than 70 times in the match, but the efficiency was lacking. The head coach Tommi Niemelä brought this up in the post-match press conference.
– That’s enough shots for a hockey game, but if you score three goals with them, it’s not enough in principle, but it’s normal playoff hockey.
Niemelä also called for better maturity in playing defense from his team.
– We need to be clearly more mature. The second paint in particular is quite a red garment for me, but that’s an individual situation. It probably shows that we were not fully mature in the defensive game today.
KalPa’s head coach Sami Tervonen saw a clear improvement in his team’s grip.
– We came in with the right expression. The nails were exposed, the canines were shining and we came out looking more like ourselves compared to the Kuopion game.
According to Tervonen, especially the second set was a strong performance from the visitors, even though their own mistakes offered Ilves chances.
– Our difficult moments happened to hit one after the other, because the superiority of the opponent is of course top class.
– However, the goals that the opponent scored were such that we have to learn from them. They were similar situations that have happened in this series before.
The quarter-final series between Ilves and KalPa continues on Monday in Kuopio.
According to Tommi Niemelä, the efficiency was exhausted. Mika Kylmäniemi / AOP
