Weekly Finnish Hockey round-up by Aatami Mäkinen.
KHL
Jokerit - Having qualified for the playoffs, Finland's sole representatives in the Kontinental Hockey League, have not had a great week. Being paired with top seeds CSKA Moscow in the Western Conference, Jokerit had to make the trip to Russia for the first two games. The Red Army team came away with two impressive wins on home ice taking Game 1 by a 4-2 scoreline and then Game 2 by a 2-1 in overtime. With the teams switching to the Hartwall Arena for Game 3, it was a much improved performance by the Finns but CSKA still managed to come away with the victory winning 4-3, but once again needing overtime to do so. It means the Russians now hold a 3-0 series lead with game 4 set for Today [Monday]. It seems a tall ask for Jokerit to make a come back or indeed to force a Game 5 but they will certainly give it a go.
SM liiga
Pelicans – The Lahti-based side shocked high-flying TPS in Turku with goals from Hannes Bjorninen and Justin Hodgman, the latter’s arriving in overtime. Timi Lahtinen had given TPS the lead at 23:31 but Bjorninen levelled at 56:27.
Pelicans then made the short journey to Kouvola on Saturday to take on struggling KooKoo but were left feeling disappointed afterwards. Terry Broadhurst gave the home side the lead at 9:38 and it wasn’t until mid-way through the final period that the Pelicans were back on level terms. Juha Leimu finding the net at 49:27. That was enough to take the game into overtime but 1:58 in, Anrei Hakulinen scored the winner in what could prove to be an imports result for the hosts.
Lukko - On a day where all of the top three teams lost, Lukko skated away from Kuopio with another important win. Eetu Koivisoinen and Elmari Pitkanen scored less than three minutes apart to set them on their way, and even a Mikko Nuutinen goal for KalPa in the third period wasn’t enough to stop the Rauma team. Against Karpat though Lukko lost 3-0. Aku Kestila, John Albert and Ville Leskinen all scoring.
SaiPa - The Lappeenranta side were convincingly beaten by a visiting Ilves side. Otto Koivula, Juho Liuksiala and Aleksi Mustonen all scoring.
JYP - The Side from Jyvaskyla eased to a 3-1 win over HPK after Ossi Louhivaara, Joonas Nattinen and Janne Tavi all scored by the mid-way point of the game. Janne Lahti did get a consolation for HPK with one second left on the clock.
On Thursday, JYP shocked league leaders Tappara with a shoot-out win after they had led on two separate occasions, and at one stage held a two goal lead. Arttu Likola and Janne Tavi had spotted the hosts a 2-0 advantage early in the third period, but Teemu Nurmi and Aleksi Elorinne had the Tampere-based side level at 52:29. Joonas Nattinen then thought he had won the game for JYP 45 seconds later when he netted, but once again Tappara levelled. Valtteri Kemilainen forcing overtime when he scored at 57:37. Tavi won the game for JYP with the only successful penalty shot.
Against TPS, Tomi Kallio gave the visiting side from Turku the lead 2:35 into the game but Janne Tavi made sure the sides went into the first break level. Patrik Virta then restored the lead for TPS mid-way through the second period but Juha-Pekka Hytonen scored with just over three minutes remaining to tie the game up once more. And, it was Hytonen again who hit the winner 3:11 into overtime.
Tappara – The league leaders needed a shoot-out to claim victory over SaiPa in Lappeenranta after the game ended goalless during regulation time. Henrik Haapala scored in the second round of the skill competition to give his team the points.
Tappara made the journey to Pori to take on Assat and were ahead at 5:45, Juhani Jasu giving the league leaders the early advantage. Maksim Matushkin levelled for Assat at 12:14, but Tappara restored their lead at 28:50 through Valtteri Kemilianen to take them one step closer to the regular season championship.
HIFK – The Helsinki side lead on three separate occasions against KooKoo before the result was safe. Joonas Rask had given the Helsinki side a 1-0 lead mid-way through the opening period but Mikko Jokela levelled at 26:35. Matt Generous then restored the capital-city club’s lead a few minutes later, but KooKoo were on level terms again early into the third period through Eero Savilahti. Ryan O’Connor made the game safe at 49:38 to send KooKoo back home to Kouvola still bottom of the standings.
Two days later they recorded a resounding win over struggling SaiPa. Valtteri Virkkunen had given the Lappeenranta side the elad but four unanswered goals from HIFK turned the game on its head. Jusso Puustinen, Roope Hintz, Micke-Max Asten and Joe Finley all scoring. They suffered a setback against HIFK though losing 3-1. Juha Koivisto and a double strike from Sakari Manninen enough to give the home side the points against a single strike from Henri Tamminen.
KalPa – Had their game with Karpat won by 9:58 after Jesse Mankinen, Arttu Ilomaki and Alexander Ruuttu all found the net during a five minute period of play. John Albert and then Antti Kalapudas scored for the team from Oulu to set up a tense finish but their comeback fell short, as KalPa did enough to see out the remaining time.
Jukurit - Topi Nattinen, Teemu Tallberg, Henrik Koivisto and Zach Budish got the goals for Jukurit as the Mikkeli-based side beat Assat in Pori.
They followed that up on Saturday with a 3-1 win over HPK. Turo Asplund, Zach Budish and Topi Nattinen scoring within a crazy 48 second period of play at the start of the game. Indeed, the game was over and effectively won by the 4:08 mark. Sakari Manninen did pull one back for HPK during the second period but that was as close as they got to a comeback.
Karpat – Came from two goals down to win a thrilling game in overtime. Ville Viitaluoma scored twice early on to gift Sport Vaasa a 2-0 lead, but Toni Kahkonen cut the deficit just over a minute later. Ari Grondahl then restored Sport’s two goal advantage before Kahkonen netted his second to make the score 3-2 before the second intermission. Aleksi Ainali then scored Sport’s fourth goal of the night early into the third period, but two minutes later John Albert and Ville Leskinen netted 28 seconds apart to tie the game at 4-4. Mika Pyorala scored the overtime winner for the visitors 34 second in.
Ilves – Saw off Sport with goals from Teemu Rautiainen and Aleksi Mustonen, plus a double strike from Juho Liuksiala.
Assat – Jussi Makkonen scored the only goal of the game for Assat after just 37 seconds against Ilves in Tampere on Tuesday.
Tuesday, February 21
HIFK v KooKoo 3-2
Ilves v Assat 0-1
JYP v HPK 3-1
SaiPa v Tappara 0-1
Sport v Karpat 4-5
Thursday, February 23
HIFK v SaiPa 4-1
KalPa v Lukko 1-2
Tappara v JYP 3-4
TPS v Pelicans 1-2
Assat v Jukurit 0-4
Friday, February 17
HPK v HIFK 3-1
Karpat v Lukko 3-0
SaiPa v Ilves 0-3
Saturday, February 18
Ilves v Sport 4-0
Jukurit v HPK 3-1
JYP v TPS 3-2
KalPa v Karpat 3-2
KooKoo v Pelicans 2-1
Assat v Tappara 1-2
Mestis
Wednesday, February 22
JYP Akatemia v IPK 0-6
Espoo Uited v K-Vantaa 4-1
Hokki v SaPKo 0-3
LeKi v TUTO 2-0
Hermes v RoKi 3-1
Peliitat v Jokipojat 5-1
Friday, February 24
Jokipojat v K-Vantaa 2-5
Hermes v Espoo United 3-4
KeuPa HT v IPK 1-5
Hokki v LeKi 2-0
Saturday, February 25
SaPKo v Jokipojat 4-2
TUTO v JYP-Akatemia 1-4
RoKi v LeKi 1-4
IPK v K-Vantaa 3-2
Peliitat v Hermes 2-1
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