The red jackets took Black Wings Linz by surprise in the first section by creating numerous solo attempts. Lessio used the first of these to take the lead, only 21 seconds later Hochegger doubled the lead after Kraus had conquered the pucker, also in a solo. Tičar missed his partial breakaway, but brought the disc back in front of the case in a way that put Gaffal in his own net. The three-goal lead lasted into the third period, when Kristler shot into the short cross corner after a coast-to-coast advance. A little later he provided the template for Brucker’s goal, but the Klagenfurt team didn’t allow more. Four seconds before the end, Lessio dropped the ball into the empty goal from KAC’s point of view to make it 4-2.
Head Coach Petri Matikainen’s Post Game Commentary:
“I liked our performance, we were disciplined and showed a lot of heart. The physical component was right, the skating too, our game system was implemented well, we were straightforward enough. In terms of the table situation, today was of course a big win, but we still have three games to go and we haven’t achieved anything yet. Overall, there were a few things that were positive today, the attitude of our team pointed in the right direction, even if we withdrew too much in the last third, as we did on Friday, and acted too passively. This must certainly be stopped for the coming weeks, we will work on that starting tomorrow. When Linz got close to a goal at the end, we didn’t panic, we saved the disc, brought it into the offensive zone, that was smart, that’s positive.”
kac.at, Image: BWL / Eisenbauer
