Joy rolls into Třinec, hands with me in Pardubice as well. The extra-league finalist, who was known long ago, is enjoying how Sparta is struggling with progress to the title fight already outlined. A frantic finish to the fifth duel flipped euphoria from one camp to the other, with a mixture of anger and disappointment ultimately remaining on Sparta’s side. The Steelers grabbed a 3:2 triumph and the game continues in Silesia on Thursday. That there would be seven battles?
At 56:30, Adam Helewka increases the triple lead from the break to 3:1, and it looks like the end of the game. Seemingly. In 45 seconds, Filip Chlapík lowers to create a giant bang in the O2 arena with Michal Moravčík’s goal at 58:10. The judges initially agreed on the video that the puck narrowly crossed the line, but the whole story did not end there. The guests took the so-called coach’s challenge due to the illegal behavior of Jani Lajunen in the goal area. And they succeeded! The guests bowed out with a dream win and are looking forward to getting home for the third win in a row.
Sparta actually got through it at the beginning. It “invaded” the ice with the force of lukewarm water and in the mode of the 26th extra league round. “We’re here, but we’ll leave it up to you,” as if her players were telling the guests.
They unexpectedly liked the position under the pressure of ending the season at the bronze level. The steel players kept the momentum from the previous game, when they fought their way out to the metropolis by train. The difference between the two teams was brutally simple. Moták’s boys wanted to conquer, the Spartans did not. They bet on a lean, unsalted routine, maybe they didn’t even want to play with the puck. And that couldn’t be enough for the entertaining guests.
After the break, the guests put on live concrete in the middle zone, etched the red entrances into the offensive zone like a reader and blocked shots in an exemplary manner. The Spartans had a hard time getting their bodies in front of Ondřej Kacetl, let alone pucks. The outputs from previous battles were layered, when the Prague team scored only two goals from the area in front of the goal area, while five from distance. The fans began to recognize Gross’s team only in the 29th minute, Pavel Kousal became the driver of the game’s upswing, the Spartans began to believe that they could move the situation with excellent substitutions with full movement. And salvation came at 39:59! Daniel Voženílek lost the puck thanks to David Vitouch’s attack, and after a few seconds, Filip Chlapík in the area of painful axes with a soft throw from Jakub Krejčík changed the intended save of Ondřej Kacetl and reduced the score to 1:2.
It was the third act, where everything important happened in the last four minutes. Nerves, stress shook hands with cheers and great joy. No, this streak continues…
To the joy in Pardubice…
Goals
Homemade: 39:59. Guy, 57:15. A guy
Guests: 09:16. Tax, 12:33. Mar. Adamek, 56:30. Helewka
Assemblies
Homemade: J. Kovář (Kořenář) – Kempný (A), Mozík, Krejčík, Mikliš, Němeček, Irving, Moravčík – D. Vitouch, Horák, Chlapík – Buchtele, Sobotka (C), Forman (A) – Konečný, Lajunen, Harper – Hrabík, O. Najman, P. Kousal.
Guests: Kacetl (Mazanec) – Smith, Marinčin, Nedomlel, Kundrátek, Šenkeřík, Mar. Adámek, Polášek – Nestrašil, Čacho, Hrehorčák – Daňo, Cienciala, L. Hudáček – Voženílek, Helewka, M. Růžička (A) – M. Roman, Vrána (C), Dravecký (A).
Referee
Hribik, Ondráček – Ondráček, Hynek
Stadium
O2 arena, Prague
Visit
14,208 viewers
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