The White Tigers were able to equalize with a curious goal and finally grab two important points. “We were in the lead, but unfortunately a shot from outside the goal hit our defender in the head and the puck bounced into the goal,” lamented the top scorer of the competition, Daňo.
How exactly did the goal fall at 2:2? “I didn’t even see it, I just closed my eyes and saw the puck in the goal,” laughed Liberec defender Richard Nedomlel. It was he who shot the puck at the goal from the blue in the 51st minute. He hit the kneeling Lukáš Kaňák, and the puck from his helmet sailed behind Kacetl’s back. “He fell with luck, but that’s what’s needed. When you’re losing, you have to push and shoot. But it already started with Jarda Vlach’s excellent tackle, which kept the players on their backs,” commented home coach Patrik Augusta.
“We’ll get the second goal from the head, I don’t understand,” Třinec coach Zdeněk Moták shook his head. “We made mistakes. There weren’t many of them, but unfortunately we were punished for them. Both in the first period, in the third and also in overtime. From our side, however, I saw maximum combativeness, commitment, dedication, everything was there. I just missed converting chances,” added Moták.
“They were lucky. Of course, we also had some with our goals, but we played it well, and we are very sorry that we got one point,” regretted Daňo, who shot in the middle part.
In its first minute, he tied the game at 1:1, and in the eighth score, he also turned the ball around with a lucky shot, when he hit the post and the puck rolled from Kváč’s back to the goal line. “Unfortunately, the puck hit me badly from behind and bounced back into the goal. A goal from the unlucky category, but they just fall like that. I hope that I choose this now and it won’t happen to me again in the playoffs,” commented North Bohemian goalkeeper Petr Kváča.
Due to another loss, Třinec dropped out of the elite quartet, from which they were kicked out by the hot Hradec Králové. “We can fix that on Friday and I believe we will do everything to get back there and fight for where we want to be and where I think we belong. After that, we will continue to have it in our own hands,” believed Daňo. In two days, his team is waiting on the home ice of Mountfield in Hradec Králové.
