Huge Pressure Fails to Produce a Goal

Medvescak Zagreb – HC SLOVAN Bratislava 1:0 (1:0, 0:0, 0:0)

Goals: 18. Segal (St. Pierre)

Lineups:
Medvescak Zagreb: Brust – Martinovic, Flood, Morrisonn, Carle, Popovič, Hutchinson – Thomas, Anderson, Polushaj – Pelletier, St. Pierre, Segal – Kostovič, Murray, Perkovich – Bjorkstrand, Wright, Trotter
HC SLOVAN: Janus – Štajnoch, Baranka, Sersen, Sigalet, Foster, Starosta, Brejčák – Netík, Surový, Bartovič – Vondrka, Bližňák, Hudáček – Nagy, Tičar, Jeglič – Šťastný, White, Lunter

Medvescak and Slovan met for the fourth time this season, and both sides started cautiously. The Slovan third line - Jeglič, Tičar, Nagy - created the most pressure on Brust's goal, occupying the Medvescak zone, but none of their shots or speculations resulted in a goal. Bjokstrand threatened Janus in the 7th minute, but his right pad came to the rescue. Further chances fell to Slovan in their first powerplay, but efforts from Fostera, Nagy and Jegliča failed to change the scoreline. Medvescak struggled to get their attack going at the other end, and Janus was not called upon. In the 15th, a strong shot from Surový struck Brust's blocker, but Nagy was unable to get to the rebound. Two minutes later, a rare attack from Doug Sheddon's team resulted in a goal, Segal's shot from the right wing finding the top corner – 1:0.

The first major chance of the second period fell to Bill Thomas - a poorly timed line change allowed Zagreb to break three-on-one, but Janus made a timely intervention. Slovan got lucky soon after, when Segal somehow failed to turn a firm pass into the wide open net. In the 25th minute, Foster sent Hudáček through, but his dummy took him beyond the net, and his pass back found the wrong man. Three minutes later, a Sigalet slapshot was well-held by Brust, and the Canadian defenseman's effort from the left wing also found Brust in the way. White's foul then forced us to defend a Zagreb powerplay, and the American forward spurned a great chance on his return after Bartovič set him up. Slovan's second powerplay came near the end of the second period, but the visitors could make nothing from it. 

In the 44th minute, Slovan again had to defend a Medvescak powerplay, but soon after, our top scorer Ladislav Nagy was unable to convert from between the circles. Matikainen's men remained active in the minutes that followed, but a lack of calm in front of goal led to inaccurate finishes. The hosts didn't come near Janus - the Bears just mustered a couple of shots during powerplays, which our defence dealt with easily enough. But the equaliser failed to materialise despite heavy Slovan pressure in the closing stages - our dominance and numerous opportunities came to nothing, as the Sky Blues lost in Zagreb 1:0.

Petri Matikainen: Congratulations to Medvescak Zagreb on their victory. We have a tough period behind us now, where we played five games in ten days, which is visible on our busiest players; three of our forwards are affected by injuries. In spite of that, I'm pleased with our performance today. Apart from the first period, we were the more active side, we made a lot of good chances and shots. I have to pay credit to the home goalie Barry Brust, who had a fine game, and I think it's fair to say he stopped us from taking the points in this game. We have to hold our heads high, keep working hard, and fight for points and victories in the games to come.