Brno Kometa lose to Plzeň in overtime after disallowed goal

Brno’s Kometa lost 2-1 to Plzeň in overtime in round 10 of the Czech Extraliga. The hosts were already celebrating, but their goal in the first minute of extra time was disallowed for offside, and a minute later Adam Mechura won it for the visitors.

The Brno side came into the game after Thursday’s win over Sparta (4-3 in overtime at the O2 Arena) and started confidently. In the 15th minute Hynek Zogorna opened the scoring on the power play — only the third power-play goal for Kometa in nine games this season.

Plzeň levelled the game

Then Champions Hockey League leaders Plzeň evened things out. In the third period, in the 49th minute, Mechura equalized with a shot from the right circle. “From the middle of the game it evened out, and Plzeň was more active and winning the battles,” admitted Kometa assistant coach Kamil Pokorný.

His Plzeň counterpart Václav Pletka said the team shuffled its lines in the second period and began to create chances: “We asked the guys to be patient in the third period, that the chance would come, and we took it.”

The disallowed overtime goal

In the first minute of overtime, euphoria broke out in the almost full Winning Group Arena: home captain Jakub Flek passed to Ilomäki, who scored past Plzeň goalie Nick Malik. But the visitors’ bench challenged, and after a video review the referees disallowed the goal for offside.

“Thank God the video coaches spotted the offside, they’ve bailed us out more than once. And then we took our chance and we’re happy with the two points,” Pletka said.

A minute later the visitors punished Kometa for a positioning error: Tepl found a free Mechura, who beat Brno’s best player of the match, goalie Aleš Stezka, with his second goal. “It probably affected our heads that we were already celebrating the goal. It’s hard to switch back to the fact that the game isn’t over, and we conceded a silly goal,” lamented Kometa forward Jakub Branec.

Kometa’s personnel issues

As on Thursday, Kometa played without star forward Kristián Pospíšil. “His absence is health-related,” Pokorný noted. Defenseman Jan Ščotka and forward Silvestr Kusko were also out injured. According to Pokorný, Kusko is feeling worse, while Ščotka is a little better.

The status of defenseman Stanislav Svozil has not yet been officially settled: he last played for Kometa two weeks ago in Olomouc, but Brno is not counting on him in the lineup. “He’s with the team and training, we have some plan. We’ll see how things go by the end of the week,” Pokorný concluded.

After Sunday’s Extraliga games, Kometa sit 11th with a game in hand, while Plzeň, after their second win in a row, are fourth.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz