A soldout Hartwall Arena was taken by surprise in many ways. The illegal hitting was not there and the absence of several first string HIFK players did not show very much either.
Sure, we lost the game, but from my skybox view it appeared the game was largely decided by lucky bounces and better finishing and secured by impressive goaltending by Jokerit´s Markus Ketterer. HIFK outshot the opponent 35 to 18, but only "Mr. Magic" Jan Caloun managed to slip one past Ketterer.
HIFK went ahead on Caloun´s 2-1 tally, but Jokerit equalized late in the first period capitalising on their man advantage. The puck bounces from behind the goal via two HIFK skates to the far side of the crease were Fredrik Nilsson tapped it in. Nilsson scored his eight of the season on a 2-1 rush in the second period. He slid a backhand shot low in the far corner of Bäckström´s goal. The third came on a breakaway by Saarela and Janecky added an empty netter in the dying seconds.
The first period weighed more towards HIFK and in fact with the exception of a short period in the second we looked good, but very very inefficient.
Nilsson has become something of a red cloth scoring 4 of his eight goals this season against HIFK in the last two encounters. The man of the match was however Jan Caloun who again showed glimpses of his brilliant skill with the puck. His linemates Hurme and especially Kalto did not reach even close, though. HIFK was forced to ice all players on hand: producing a pretty balanced package.
New acquisition Joe Frederick skated on the right wing with Kortelainen and Nieminen. He did alright, but truth is the line lacked speed. The 3rd and 4th lines were present not much more to say, however. Defence was good but nothing flashy, Rafalski blew several opportunities with, for him very rare, erratic passes.
HIFK has never performed after breaks, last year it looked at lot worse after the Xmas break. For the spectator the boring second round within the conference started with this game. This means we´ll again meet the happy bunch of Saipa (away, Jan 2),Blues (home, Jan 7th), Kalpa (away, Jan 9th). Nice for the points table, but soo boring for the fan.
The away and home EHL series vs. Jokerit will be played Jan 5th and Jan 12th.
Kortelainen-Nieminen-Frederick
Kalto-Hurme-Caloun
Heiskanen-Sihvonen-Mäkiaho
Laaksonen-Kuhta-M.Ruutu
Lydman-Rafalski
Kultanen-Siren
Rajala-From
Stars:
*** Caloun
** Hurme
* Kuhta