Last Tuesday in Jyväskylä, Oceláři Třinec won the first and third periods by scoring a goal each, but JYP struck four times in the second on home ice, and now take a two-goal aggregate lead to the Czech Republic.

The key to JYP’s success in the middle frame was capitalizing on the power play and getting traffic on front of the Třinec net, which made life difficult for goaltender Peter Hamerlík.

“I didn’t see the puck and I leaned to the left side. If I went to my right, it hits my chest,” the Třinec goalie said of the first JYP goal. “The second and third ones I didn’t see at all, and the last one was deflected.”

The scorer of the second and third JYP goals was defenceman Mikko Mäenpää. The two goals came less than two minutes apart on the power play – first 5-on-3 and then 5-on-4.

“We got a few quick goals in the second period. We used our momentum that way and that was important,” Mäenpää commented after the game. “But then again, they had some PPs too and our penalty killing was good.”

Looking ahead to the second leg, Mäenpää said: “We know they’ll be coming hard in their home rink, so we’ve gotta be ready for that, but we can’t really change our game (because we’re up by two goals). I’d rather think of this like a playoff series, where we’ve got one win and now we’re going to try to get another.”

Since Tuesday’s game, JYP have played twice, losing 5-3 to HPK in Hämeenlinna on Thursday and then beating the Lahti Pelicans on home ice Saturday by a 4-1 score. The win was JYP’s sixth in a row at home, counting the CHL result against Třinec, but they have yet to win away from home in 2018.

Třinec went into last week’s game having won three Extraliga games in a row. Since returning from Finland they haven’t left Třinec, winning 5-1 over Mladá Boleslav on Friday night with Šimon Hrubec in net and then losing 5-2 to Kometa Brno on Sunday afternoon with Hamerlík back between the pipes. It’s expected that NordicBet MVP nominee Hrubec will return on Tuesday.