HIFK rebounded from Saturday´s away loss with a convincing victory over a somewhat bleak TPS.
Jere Karalahti increased his goals tally to four, in the last three games, on a accurate slap-shot from the blue on the man advantage. For a guy who needed 100 shot for his career first goal the tranformation has brought him a lot more time on the power-play unit.
In yesterday´s game Karalahti was outshined only by the sheer brilliance of Jan Caloun (2+2) who now is joint lead in GF (13) and points (33) in the league.
The line Ruutu-Davidsson-Caloun is playing so well that (C) Ruuttu has to get accustomed to less playing time on the third line with Hurme and Tuomainen.
It was also a happy home return for favourite Mika Kortelainen who on the line with Olli Jokinen and Laukkanen showed the same grit and will as last season when this trio formed the HIFK #1 scoring line. Kortelainen scored the all important secong go ahead goal on a, for him typical, goalmouth scramle.
Defensively HIFK weren´t really tested. Mostly the defence managed well with the toothless TPS offense, but the second goal conceded was a clear mismarking case by Ruuttu who was quite lacklustre throughout the game. The first one was a happy deflection off Sundblads foot.
Is this a begginning of a winning streak ? Lets hope so and with the determination showed yesterday it shouldn´t be impossible.
Stars:
#1 Jan Caloun
#2 Olli Jokinen, Jere Karalahti
#3 Mika Kortelainen