Pilsen wins fifth straight CHL game, Liberec stuns Frölunda

In the fifth round of the Champions Hockey League group stage, Pilsen's Škoda came from behind from 1:2 down to beat Swedish champions Skellefteå 4:2 on home ice, maintaining a perfect record — five wins in five games. On the same day, Liberec beat the Swedish league's current leaders Frölunda 3:2 in overtime.

Liberec punishes the Swedish league leaders

The White Tigers started the game confidently, but the visitors scored first: in the 14th minute forward Noah Hasa opened the scoring, after Petr Kváča had stopped a clean breakaway shortly before that. Liberec created chances of their own, but Frölunda goaltender Tobias Normann made no mistakes before the break — not even two power plays of their own could help the home side.

More than four thousand spectators in the stands (4,409, to be exact) had to wait until the 24th minute for the equalizer: Jakub Rychlovský was left alone in front of an empty net after a precise pass from Radan Lenc, but his opponent knocked the puck away with his stick, and the referees awarded a penalty shot. Lenc himself — a former Frölunda player — stepped up and beat Normann between the pads. Liberec also started the third period well: in the very first minute Lenc could have scored a second goal, but this time the Swedish goaltender was ready.

In the 46th minute, defenseman Tomáš Galvas put the home side ahead during a signaled penalty, but Frölunda stepped up their pressure, and Henrik Tömmernes tied the score in the 55th minute. Late in regulation, young Liberec forward Lukáš Kachlíř had a good chance but could not beat Normann. The winner came in overtime: in the 62nd minute Filip Sandberg scored the decisive goal. The White Tigers added two more points to the table and kept alive their chance of reaching the elite round of sixteen in the playoffs ahead of the final, sixth round of the group stage.

Pilsen stages a dramatic turnaround

Pilsen controlled the first period and had more shots on goal, but trailed on the scoreboard: in the 18th minute, Sweden's Vuollet redirected a low shot from Forsfjäll right in front of goalkeeper Ružička. In the 21st minute, forward Titlbach failed to convert a breakaway against the Swedish champions' goaltender. Midway through the game the stands briefly erupted: defenseman Chromiak skated along the boards and fired the puck from almost no angle, and a teammate tipped it past Lampinen — but the Swedes challenged the play, the officials spotted an offside at the start of the attack, and the goal was disallowed. Right after that the home side hit the post through Simon and then missed a chance through Katić.

The punishment was not long in coming: in the 38th minute defenseman Johansson skated in from the boards between the circles and fired a precise shot. Pilsen managed to pull one back before the second intermission — after a pass back from Rohlík, Mehura made it 1:2.

In the third period Pilsen kept creating chances, but the Swedish champions defended stubbornly for a long time. The turning point came with just under six minutes left: the home side earned a two-minute 5-on-3 power play — under Champions Hockey League rules, a penalized player does not return from the box immediately after the first penalty if a second one follows, giving Pilsen a real chance at a complete turnaround. A minute later Chromiak leveled the score with a powerful shot, and a minute after that the home side failed to convert a 2-on-1, but they did not give up the initiative: in the 57th minute Lev put them ahead, and 16 seconds before the final siren Rohlík sealed the final 4:2 with an empty-net goal.

“We gave a chance to young players who usually don’t get much ice time. Our opponents showed their class and a slightly different style of hockey — the Swedes were in no hurry to give up the puck, battled hard for it and handled it well, but we managed to deal with that. Overall we didn’t play badly, we just conceded after our own mistakes, which our opponents capitalized on. We got back into the game thanks to a good shift change, during which our opponents committed two penalties in a row, giving us a two-man advantage. After a long time we turned the match around, even though we had been behind,” said Pilsen coach Jiří Veber.

Standings in the group

After five rounds, Pilsen are in first place with a perfect record — five wins without a single defeat, a goal difference of 24:9 and 15 points. Skellefteå are second with 12 points, while Liberec, after their win over Frölunda, moved up to 15th place with 7 points.

Other results from the round: Rögle beat Davos 3:2, Växjö thrashed Geneva 4:0, Kouvola surprised Klagenfurt with a 5:3 win, Fribourg-Gottéron saw off Nitra 6:1, and SaiPa Lappeenranta won away against the Graz club 3:1, with forward Friedrich on the scoresheet.

Source: sport.cz