The SCRJ Lakers lose their first playoff game away 6-2 against HC Lugano. The Lakers actually showed a good performance, especially in the middle third, although the end result suggests something different. After a weak start and an early deficit, the Lakers caught up again and were able to equalize in the same third, but not take the lead. In the middle third, the HCL only met in the power play, and the Lakers came close to equalizing several times, but they could not take advantage of various opportunities. At the start of the final third there were 3 goals in less than a minute, but the Lakers only met once and so they had to make up a 2-goal deficit in the last quarter of an hour, which the Luganesi managed to prevent through aggressive fore-checking. In addition, the HCL hit twice, which raised the mortgage for Rappi more, in the end you lose the game, but the series has only just begun. The goalscorers for Rapperswil were Schweri (10 ‘) and Profico (42’).
The SCRJ Lakers had to do without Jeff Tomlinson in this game, who was unable to travel to Ticino due to illness. It is hoped, however, that Tomlinson will be back on the boards for the next game on Thursday.
The Lakers start the game cautiously, the Ticino home team has good chances early on, while the Rapperswilers have to concentrate primarily on defensive work. Nyffeler also has to intervene in the game soon and shows a first good save. But the Lakers are becoming increasingly stuck in their own zone and are coming under increasing pressure. Less than five minutes have been played before the Lakers conceded the first goal, Suri caught Nyffeler ice cold between the legs. At first, the goal does not seem to wake the Rosenstädter, after six and a half minutes the shot ratio is 0: 7 for the Luganesi. Only in the third half do the Lakers wake up and put pressure on the goal of qualifying runner-up, and promptly you get a first power play. The majority game of the Rapperswilers cannot really build up at first, but shortly before the penalty expires, it is Kay Schweri who scores the equalizer. Even after the end of the power play, the Lakers play more actively and more dangerously than they did at the beginning of the game. And only a little later there is the next penalty against Lugano. This time, however, the guests fail to exploit the numerical advantage, even if it is dangerous a few more times. Afterwards, the Luganesi will also have the opportunity to play poweplay for the first time. And although the Biaconeri put a lot of pressure, the best chance of this phase belongs to the SCRJ, Rowe barely missed the goal in a 2v1 breakaway. But after the penalty has expired, the HCL again and again visibly takes over the game, but this time the Rapperswil defense holds tight and so it goes with a 1: 1 into the break.
In the middle section, the Lakers start much better than in the third, but after just under four minutes there is another penalty against the Rapperswiler. Again Lehmann and Rowe come to a breakaway, again they just fail to Niklas Schlegel. And almost in return, the Ticino team make it 1: 2. The Rapperswilers have to chase after a deficit again, but they lack their greatest offensive talent, Roman Cervenka, who has not been on the ice since the end of the first third and was still no longer on the bench. But even without the top foreigner, the Lakers try to equalize as quickly as possible. In particular, the 4th line with Michael Loosli, who recently played very strongly, can create some good chances, although the goal has not yet been achieved. In the second third half, the Lakers get another chance to go into the power play, but the second goal doesn’t succeed even with one man more, and you always get stuck with a defender or Schlegel. And so it is still 1: 2 at the end of the third. Despite the efforts in exploiting the chances, the Lakers are defensively much more compact than in the starting third and do not allow any more hits with 5 against 5. Even though Lugano had a bigger share of the game, the shot ratio of 12: 8 shows that the Lakers are still in the game.
The start of the final third brings a rollercoaster of emotions, after less than two minutes the HCL increase to 1: 3, directly after the following face-off, the Lakers can shorten it to 2: 3 through Profico and only 40 seconds later beat the Luganesi again and take the lead 2: 4. As a result, the game increases in hardness and intensity and both teams appear regularly in the opposing zone, trying to score the next goal. This does not happen at first, but the emotions remain high and this ultimately leads to a 4 vs 4 situation. During this phase, the Lakers have top chances several times, but in the end the Rosenstädter also seems to be lacking the little bit of luck that the home team were able to benefit from with some of their goals. With every additional second that passes, the pressure on the Rapperswiler to score another goal increases and the focus must increasingly be shifted back to the defensive. And so the Lakers then conceded the fifth goal of the game with only eight and a half minutes to play. So the mortgage for the Rapperswilers is high and the Luganesi take advantage of this and play very aggressively to prevent the Rosenstädter from coming within striking distance again. In the end, the Ticino also managed the 2: 6, which then definitely makes the matter clear. The end result may not correspond 100% to the entire course of the game, but the Luganesi were in the lead in the end and thus take the lead 0: 1 in this playoff series.
The next game in this playoff quarter-final is on Thursday, April 15th. The SCRJ Lakers receive HC Lugano at home and can balance the series there to 1: 1, hopefully again with Tomlinson and Cervenka. The game starts at 8:00 p.m.
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