ZSC Lions Zurich built up a 2-0 lead in Lugano, but the home team came back with three straight, and will take a one-goal lead into Zurich next week. Read more in Gamecentre.

by Derek O'Brien

In a back-and-forth battle between two Swiss NLA rivals that are well familiar with each other, HC Lugano earned an emotional, come-from-behind 3-2 win on home ice, and will take a one-goal lead into Zurich next week.

There was no obviously dominant team in the early going, but around the 13-minute mark Zurich struck for two goals to give themselves a commanding lead. 

The first goal was an excellent play by David Rundblad, cutting in from the right-wing boards and beating Elvis Merzlikins with a backhander to the far side. Then Lugano got possession off the centre-ice face-off but coughed it up at their own blue line, and Roman Wick pounced on it, skating in, and fired a wrister that Merzlikins got a piece of, but not enough to keep it out of the net.

Merzlikins was perfect the rest of the way, however, and just before the end of the first period Gregory Hoffman got Lugano on the board, taking the puck to the front of the net and sliding a backhand along the ice just past the outstretched pad of Lukas Flueler.

In the first nine minutes of the second period, Lugano scored twice more to tie the score and then take the lead. First it was defenceman Alessandro Chiesa with a one-timer, and then Patrik Zackrisson feathered a nice pass to fellow Swede Linus Klasen, who made no mistake.

Lugano had several chances late in the middle frame to widen their lead. Maxim Lapierre got a breakaway and was fouled from behind, resulting in a penalty shot. However, he was denied by Flueler. Then they had a couple of odd-man chances on a penalty kill, but Flueler held his team in the game. 

The chances continued to come in the third period, but both Merzlikins and Flueler were unbeatable. With 12 minutes left, Hoffman fed Damien Brunner, who hit the crossbar. Then Brunner took a late hooking penalty to give Zurich another chance, but Merzlikins made a late save to keep his team ahead.

"Any time you can beat a team like Zurich, you're happy," Lugano coach Doug Shedden figured. About the comeback he added, "I know (that character) is in there, we had it last year. We've added a few new faces, so it's just bringing that out again – that never-give-up, never-say-die attitude. If you play a good game and do the right things, you'll get good results."