Slovan slay the Lions

HC Slovan Bratislava - HC Lev Praha 2:1 (1:0, 1:1, 0:0)

Goals: 16. Bližňák (Ľ. Višňovský, Sigalet), 24. Kukumberg (Sekera) - 28. Chára (Christensen, Voráček)

Penalties: 2:4, powerplay goals: 1:0, shorthanded goals: 0:0, officials: Gofman (Rus.), Rönn (Fín.) - Sivov, Šeľanin (both Rus.), attendance: 10 055 (sell out).

HC SLOVAN: Janus - Ľ. Višňovský, Sigalet, Sersen, Sekera, Švarný, J. Tabaček - Miklík, Bližňák, Vondrka - Bartovič, Lipiansky, L. Hudáček - Kukumberg, Kytnár, T. Mikúš - M. Daňo, A. Šťastný, Ölvecký
HC Lev Praha: Pöpperle - O. Němec, Škoula, Krejčík, Chára, Mojžíš, J. Mikuš, Oystrick - Voráček, Christensen, T. Rachůnek - Klepiš, Jaroslav Svoboda, Bartečko - Marcel Hossa, Birner, Surový - Řepík, Karamnov ml., Cipulis

From the first minute the sold out Slovnaft Arena witnessed a tactical battle. In particular, Lev played a defensive game, waiting for mistakes. HC SLOVAN had the better of the period but could not break through their opponent’s strong defence. Canadian forward Erik Christensen went close with a hard shot that was saved by Jaroslav Janus. In the 15^th minute, HC SLOVAN went to the powerplay, and it only took them eight seconds to find the back of the net, as the faceoff went from Siglaet to Višňovský, and Bližňák was able to get his stick to the puck to beat Pöpperle and make it 1:0.

At the beginning of the second period, HC SLOVAN went close again, this time through Šťastný. However, in the 24^th minute, HC SLOVAN doubled their advantage. Andrej Sekera brought the puck into the zone and found Roman Kukumberg, whose shot was like a bullet into the net – 2:0. The shutout bid for Jaroslav Janus fell in the 28^th minute, as captain Zdeno Chára found the back of the net. The pace of the play increased as the period went on, and both teams were getting a number of chances, but both netminders were playing well.

In the third period, the tactical battle continued. The away side were forced to take the initiative, but HC SLOVAN’s defence remained resilient. It turned into quite a scrappy affair and there was not much scope for expansive forward play. The home side rallied to reduce the amount of shots taken by their opponents, and whatever pucks did find their way through were easily stopped by Janus. The HC SLOVAN netminder was the cornerstone of the victory, as HC SLOVAN went on to win the second derby of the season by the same score as they won the first one 2:1.