Hockey|SaiPa already came fourth in the SM league.
Lappeenranta SaiPa is the first to start times since February 2019 in a streak of five wins and the team seems to find goalscorers from the assembly line.
Raimo Helminen coached by the team defeated Jukurit in their Kisapuisto on Wednesday with a score of 5–2. At the same time, SaiPa’s first three hits proved a new goal scorer for this season.
Defenders Ondrej Trejbalin and in addition to Mikko Niemelä, the net was waved by a native of Joensuu Miro Lauslahti, 20, for whom the hit was the first of his league career.
“The opponent had a lot of pressure, but our three-goal final set freed us from playing. It’s poison for many opponents when we skate and put a lot of pressure on the opponent,” said Oulu native Niemelä, who played 599 regular season games, in an interview with MTV.
As a bonus, SaiPa got a still very rare three-point win over Jukur. SaiPa had caught the previous equivalent before the corona period in February 2020.
Jukurit managed to take the points from 16 consecutive meetings to their name 44–4.
TPS ended a tight October with a win when it defeated the Pelicans in its home arena 5–3.
The match was decided in the final set Otto Salini and Leevi Teissalan with goals. The loss was the third in a row for Lahti, and last spring’s silver team is stuck at the tail end of the series.
TPS dominated the opening set and took a three-goal lead in the middle of the set in two and a half minutes. with TPS goal Adam Werner was allowed to be almost inactive with his two saves.
However, the second set was a show from the Lahti people, and the final set was tied.
“We made rough mistakes, for which Pelicans punished”, lamented Petrus Palmu, who played his opening match of the season.
TPS has suffered from numerous injuries in the early season. There were further troubles on Wednesday as well, when Aarne Intonen had to leave the rink in the second set.
SM league on Wednesday:
SaiPa–Jukurit 5–2 (1–1, 1–0, 3–1)
Aces–KooKoo 4–1 (1–0, 1–1, 2–0)
KalPa–Tappara 1–4 (0–1, 1–1, 0–2)
TPS–Pelicans 5–3 (3–0, 0–3, 2–0)