Match report Lukko-Kärpät

Lukko - Kärpät 1 - 2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-0) Stats

Finnish champions Kärpät came to Rauma today. Lukko just had two road games, which both ended in a win against TPS (5-2) and Pelicans (6-4). It was obvious that today was not going to be easy and not many goals were to expected.

The first period was tight. Kärpät showed why they are the main contenders for the title again. Lukko had difficulties breaking the defence of Kärpät. Kärpät looked more experienced and played more confident hockey. Although Lukko worked hard, the game play was not at the same level as Kärpät. Passing was not always secure and it was difficult to build up a good offense. Kärpät defended on the middle line, which made it very difficult for Lukko to get through. At 15.15, Lukko got a penalty called. Hagelberg got a minor penalty for slashing. Six seconds after the call, Juri Junnila scored 0-1. A shot from Ari Vallin was not eliminated well enough by Langkow. The rebound was caught by Junnila who scored.

The second period was a copy of the first one. Lukko was not playing that bad but Kärpät had their organisation standing well. The level of hockey was good, even though not many goals were scored. Kärpät waited patiently for their chances. When Antti Bruun got a penalty for boarding, Kärpät took their chances and scored, 0-2. Again Jyri Junnila was the goal scorer.
Now it was all or nothing for Lukko. And it came eventually. At 38.12, Tommi Hannus was sent away by Markku Tähtinen. With a blistering shot he beat Niklas Bäckström, 1-2. Not much later, Lukko got a 5-on-3 power play, but this was interupted by the intermission.

Lukko had 54 seconds of 5-on-3 power play left at the beginning of the third period. Everybody was waiting for the equalizer but it did not came. Although having some good shots, Bäckström was every time in the way.
Lukko was pushing Kärpät back and got some pretty good chances. Toporowski was close to the equalizer but Bäckström again just managed to keep the puck out of the goal. In the meanwhile, Kärpät was constantly watching for that moment to hit. Several times Langkow was taken under fire but also on this side of the ice, no goals were scored. Langkow was pulled at 58.58, but also this could not bring Lukko the needed goal. And so Lukko lost its third home match in a row.

Lukko is playing Tuesday in Tampere against Ilves. Thursday TPS will give a visit to Rauma.