Three points from three matches and tenth place. The balance sheet of the hockey team Škoda Plzeň in the frantic pace of the newly launched extra league. It is played every other day, and Škodovka will face Sparta Prague at home on Tuesday.
The match between the age-old rivals starts at Logspeed CZ Arena at 5:30 p.m., its intensity increases the need to score points on both sides. Ambitious Sparta’s 1:2 home loss against Karlovy Vary on Sunday only confirmed that it can be stopped for now. With three points on his account, he is also only a score ahead of Pilsen.
Even the Indians can’t cheer too much, even though they didn’t come out short in Mladá Boleslav last time. Already in the line-up with Jakub Lvo (after the expiration of the punishment from last season), they took a point after their second trip to the opponent’s ice ended in overtime. But the Bruslari had a bigger handle on this and the undefeated ones are behind the hot Litvínov at the top of the table.
At the same time, the West Bohemians defeated the Mladá Boleslav team twice in the preparation and started the Sunday duel well. In the first period, they took the lead after a goal by Ondřej Rohlík, but in the second period, the opponent luckily equalized and the scorers on both sides were exhausted for a long time. In the last minute, Pilsen’s Jakub Klepiš had a shot on goal, but missed from the right circle. And at 64:04, home Filip Pavlík beat goalkeeper Nick Malík with a winning shot.
“In Mladá Boleslav, in contrast to previous matches, we already won the first period. We continued to have more of the game, but the opponent luckily equalized. The shot went somewhere in the corner, but bounced off our player and ended up in the net, which gave them a kick. The match is so difficult to evaluate, but we are happy even for the point,” said the 22-year-old Malík, who is settling in the extra league after three seasons in the Finnish league.
The fact is that Pilsen did not excel in shooting in Sunday’s duel. The Indians sent only fifteen shots at the opponent’s cage and in the third part they almost did not threaten its guard Dominik Furch. “Dominik Furch was catching well, but in my opinion he had little to do, we should definitely have used him more,” said Malík.
And he believes that the Spartan goalkeepers, whether Josef Kořenář or Jakub Kovář, will be under more fire on Tuesday in Pilsen.
“Already in the first home match against Litvínov, there was a great atmosphere in the hall, and I hope that it will also be true against Sparta, that it is not easy for any opponent in Pilsen. The Plzeň team is famous for its aggressive hockey, hard play to the body, so hopefully Sparta will feel it as well,” Malík wished.
But the desire to take action after two defeats does not hide even the juice from Prague. “We need to start from the very basics, get back to hard work and change the approach altogether. We need to learn from our mistakes, we can only be stronger together,” forward Kryštof Hrabík, who played for Pilsen last season, announced on the Sparta hockey website.
But there can only be one winner.
