- Järvinen: OT goal for Tappara
- Hrňa & Viedenský: each 1 goal for Třinec
- Heljanko: 20 saves for Tappara
Tappara Tampere defeated Oceláři Třinec 3-2 in overtime to retake the lead in Group E with nine points. With only one point from the game, Třinec will need to win both remaining games and get some help.
The first period was played conservatively, but in the last minute Tappara’s Jarkko Malinen took the game’s first penalty, and in the first minute of the second Třinec cashed in on the powerplay with Erik Hrňa deflecting Milan Doudera’s shot from the point. Tappara evened it up late in the middle frame, with Matti Järvinen taking a pass in the slot, turning and firing past a screened Hrubec.
Tappara then took the lead early in the third period on Aleksi Elorinne’s blast through a crowd and they had chances to widen the lead but Hrubec made a couple of big saves. That gave the chance for Třinec to pull back even with 7:20 to play when Marek Viedenský backhanded in a pass from Vladimír Dravecký on a 2-on-1.
As is often the case in overtime, play was end-to-end, and Aron Chmielewski getting upended at one end led to a Tappara two-man breakaway the other end and Valtteri Kemiläinen made no mistake on the feed from Jan-Mikael Järvinen for the win.
