KalPa had a mountain ahead of them just three days ago, but two three-point wins over Vienna have put them into the next round! Read more in Gamecentre.
It was a tight opening period in the Austrian capital, with both sides having opportunities to take the lead. However it was the visitors who eventually made the breakthrough Miikka Pitkanen with a beautiful move to set himself up for going top-shelf over J.P. Lamoureaux at 17:51.
The middle period was again a seesaw affair, with chances at both ends. However, again, it was KalPa who managed to find the clinical instinct to double there lead: Jesse Mannkinen's shot trickled through Lamoureaux's pads to make it 2-0 with 36:27 played.
Vienna skated on to the ice for the final period knowing two goals would keep them alive in the CHL – any less and they were out. After a couple of man advantages that went to waste, a 5-on-3 opportunity presented itself as the period approached its halfway point – Capitals' coach Serge Aubin called a timeout, and eventually the home side's breakthrough came through Rafael Rotter at 50:24 on the 5-on-4 power play. That was, however, just a minor moment of joy for the home fans, as Mankinen struck again just over two minutes later to re-restablish KalPa's two-goal lead with only 7:24 remaining.
KalPa held out for the win to secure their place in the next round, while Vienna will be ruing those late goals conceded in Kuopio when they were only minutes from advancing on Friday night.
Kelsey Tessier, who assisted on Vienna's lone goal, said, “I think we played well till the end. They shot the puck and they scored, but in my opinion we played the system very well. They scored more goals than us and that was the key at the end. It was a very quick game, but that's how we want to play hockey this year. It's good practice for us for the season.”