SLOVAN GOALLESS IN PRAGUE

HC Lev Prague – HC SLOVAN Bratislava 7:0 (2:0, 3:0, 2:0)

Goals: 1. Sekáč (Thörnberg, Němec), 16. Novotný (Mäenpää), 25. Novotný (Azevedo), 34. Řepík (Nakládal, Matai), 37. Vrána (Jaakola), 42. Oystrick (Mäenpää, Thörnberg), 43. Ševc (Cingel, Řepík)

Lineups:
Lev Prague: Vehanen – Ševc, Mäenpää, Oystrick, Němec, Jaakola, O'Byrne, J. Mikuš, Nakládal – Azevedo, Novotný, Ullström – Sekáč, Zackrisson, Thörnberg – Ridderwall, Vrána, Klepiš – Matai, Cingel, Řepík
HC SLOVAN Bratislava: Janus – Sigalet, Škoula, Vondrka, Bližňák, Miklík – Mojžíš, Mihalik, Bartovič, Ölvecký, Radivojevič – Brejčák, Štajnoch, Hudáček, Šťastný, Šatan – Daňo, Luža, Bakoš, Matoušek, T. Mikúš.

Just like on Friday, the game started badly for Slovan. Within a minute they trailed after a skillful finish by Sekáč – 1:0. Vondrka could have levelled three minutes later, but his backhanded hit Vehanen, and his follow up hit the post. Janus was then called into action in the 8^th, stopping potent shots from Řepík and Zackrisson. Štajnoch saved Slovan from going further behind, dispossessing Ullström at the last moment. Thörnberg had a chance too, but failed when up against Janus. In the 16^th, Novotný crossed the blue line and his shot through Mihálik found the top corner – 2:0. Shortly before the siren, Vehanen blocked a powerful shot from Ölvecký.

During a powerplay in the 21^st minute, both Šatan and Bartovič saw promising shots blocked by the Lev defense. The hosts then extended their lead in the 25^th, Novotný squeezing the puck in off Janus’s stick – 3:0. Half-way through the period, Sekáč found himself alone between the circles, but Janus was fortunate to make the save. Tomáš Mikúš then broke away in the 31^st, but again the home defense stepped in. Slovan struggled to find a way into the game, seldom making it into the attacking zone. Řepik , however, added a fourth for Lev in the 34^th from a crowd in front of goal. Slovan then failed to convert chances in a five-on-three powerplay, instead conceding a breakaway goal to Vrána after a mix up in the attacking zone – 5:0.

Vondrka started the third period with a decent shorthanded effort, but Vehanen was able to deflect the puck into the safety netting. A Lev powerplay in the 42^nd minute produced another goal, this time defenseman Oystrick coming to the party – 6:0. Less than a minute later it was unlucky seven for Slovan, Martin Ševc firing home from the right circle – 7:0. A flailing Janus did at least keep the home side from scoring again. Several thousand fantastic Slovan fans had made the trip to Prague, and Slovan tried hard to score for them, but they came up against an excellent home defense. Novotný hit the crossbar for Lev in the 52^nd, but after that both teams could come up with no more, leaving Lev to celebrate its first home victory over Slovan.

Rostislav Čada: Today we started this prestigious match without four first-team players, after five successful games which had cost us a lot of strength. That showed in our movement and the one-on-one contests, which we lost. We lost the puck a lot in center ice and gave the opposition a free pass into our zone. To field six defensemen today, we had to call up Sigalet, who hadn’t trained for a week. Still, the team fought hard and tried their hardest to get a result.