SM league: Kiekko-Espoo broke their losing streak in Kuopio

League champion Kiekko-Espoo faced away KalPa in their last match before the short Christmas break.

The people of Espoo went into the match on a three-game losing streak. Especially Friday’s match against Kärppi was miserable, when K-Espoo lost 0-5.

The Blues clearly raised their level for Saturday. The away game against KalPa turned out to be extremely exciting in the end, and the solution was only seen in the contest for the winning goal. The final scores were recorded as 2–3 in favor of the visitors.

The home team opened the scoring taps of the match after seven minutes of play, when Kiekko-Espoon Different Koch sat on the ice. Mathias Kantner opened completely free in front of the goal Aleksi Klemetin from the pass and completed the readings to 1–0.

Kantner’s goal was the only one of the opening set, and the Kuopio team went into the break with a one-goal lead.

KalPa ran the game strongly in the first minutes of the second period, but K-Espoo quickly countered this Ottoville Leppänen with an equalizing goal.

Ville Lajunen sent the puck along the ice surface from the blue line to the home team’s goal, where the masked Leppänen made it 1-1 with a light touch of the skate.

The home team returned to the scene after halftime of the match. This time the golden helmet got to enjoy Klemet’s preliminary work Patrick Currywho already completed his 16th goal of the season.

Espoo’s dreams of an equalizer took a hard hit at the end of the third period, when Leppänen got iced out for a foul in a really gallant way. However, KalPa’s superiority was shorter than expected Kristan Combjen lost his temper after the whistle.

The attacker left the ice shelf with a cross stick, and soon after this Lajunen leveled the situation with a handsome shot from the feel of the line. At this point, there were only just under three minutes of actual game time left.

The match went into extra time, which remained goalless. K-Espoo managed to break their losing streak in the winning goal competition. Cameron Hillis and Peter Quennevillen the hits were enough to win this time.

The people of Espoo have performed well in the first half of the season. The league riser has exceeded all expectations by winning 14 out of 34 matches in regular time. It is number four in the standings.

Kiekko-Espo’s season continues with a Boxing Day home match against Ässi.