It’s been a perfect start at home for JYP Jyväskylä, who lead Group C with six points in two games following a 4-1 win over the Vienna Capitals. The Caps have just one point but have two home games next weekend.
The first period was quite defensive, but JYP were a bit better at creating chances and scored twice. Just past the three-minute mark on an early power play, Jerry Turkulainen used his speed to get in behind the Vienna defence, took a pass and beat Jean-Philippe Lamoureux with a backhander over the sliding pad. Then late in the period, Valtteri Hotakainen deflected a fluttering point shot by Juuso Vainio.
Needing offence to get back into the game, Vienna pressed more in the second period and created some chances, but were unable to beat Eetu Laurikainen. The two teams traded goals just 1:08 apart in the third - Jarkko Immonen made it 3-0 on a wrister through a crowd, and then Jarome Samson’s slapper got the Capitals on the board. That’s as close as they’d get, however. The Caps thought they’d gotten one more in the last minute, but it was called back due to goaltender interference, and then an empty-netter made it a 4-1 final.
"It was a tight struggle but fortunately we took advantage of our scoring chances and won. They had some chances as well but we managed to prevent them from getting too many really good scoring chances. We defended the centre lane really well."Jarkko Immonen, forward, JYP Jyväskylä
"I think that in the second and third periods we were good, but in the first period, we kind of fell asleep. Obviously, against a good team like JYP that’s going to cost you. We had two or three high-percentage chances where we had the empty net and we just couldn’t capitalize on them. Those are the chances we need to bury."Andreas Nödl, forward, Vienna Capitals