MsHK Žilina - HC Košice 2:3 (1:3, 0:0, 1:3)

Goals and assistance: 15. Konečný (Jurík, Poulin), 49. Jurík (Martindale) – 6. Boltun (Nagy, Šedivý), 12. Jenčík (Hovorka, Kafka), 16. Boltun (Šoltés, Šedivý)

Excluded players: 5:4 for two minutes, power plays: 1:1, penalty kill: 0:0, Referees: Jonák, Goga - Kacej, Krajčík, 761 visitors

MsHK Žilina: Tomek (Mikoláš) – Mikuš, Juraško, Poulin, Chaloupka, Harant, Roman, Mendrej, Hatala – Handlovský, Klimenta, Kučkin – Švihálek, Martindale, Jurík – Konečný, Holovič, Stupka – Švec, Ondruš, Rogoň

HC Košice: Habal (Lundström) – Šedivý, Dudáš, Bača, Čížek, Pulli, Kessel, Koch, Matejka – Nagy, Boltun, Hričina – Jenčík, Hovorka, Kafka – Klíma, Pacan, Koyš – Šoltés, Suja, Vrábeľ

Košice started the game actively and from its beginning they put a lot of pressure on their opponent's goalie. This led to Nagy's chance from the sixth minute, where he brought the puck before Tomek and passed the puck to Šedivý. Even though he did not overcome the goalie of Žilina, Boltun scored. Six minutes later Košice increased to 2:0, when Jenčík responded to Hovorka's pass and guided the puck to the net. As far as Jenčík, it was his 200th goal in Košice's jersey. Although four minutes later Žilina scored, while Konečný was entered as the player who scored, before the break, there was the second precise action of Boltun and he scored. The score after 20 minutes was 1:3 in terms of the domestic team of Žilina.

The start of the second period was similar to the end of the first one - active attack of Košice. Hričina had a great chance in the 3rd minute, however he did not manage to send the puck to the net under the falling Tomeček. On the other side we were watching attempts of Kučkin and Mikuš, but Habal did not allow the change of score and presented several great stops. The match continued rapidly, so Košice got their chance when they outnumbered the opponent on the attack three against two. Here Jenčík’ pass found Kafka, but he let Tomek excel in Žilina's net. Therefore, the second period was goalless.

In the last period of the regular playtime, Žilina intended to make it hard for their opponent and wanted to equalize, however Košice defense worked great and did not allow the home team to take a chance. On the contrary we watched an interesting shot from the blue line by Čížek, but Tomek saw the puck and hid it in his glove. A two-goal lead by Košice remained effective until the 49th minute, when Jurík scored and brought back hope to Žilina. The home team tried to even the score at the end, but they were not successful. After the result 2:3, three points were granted to Košice.

Stanislav Škorvánek, Žilina Coach: “We are disappointed because we lost today despite an excellent performance on the ice. We were short of some luck in the end, but we cannot make an excuse. We scored one goal less than Košice and that is why we lost today.”

Milan Jančuška, Košice Coach: “When we traveled to Žilina we were aware of a difficult match ahead of us. Last time the home team beat the champion on their own ice. Eventually the first period decided about our victory, when we scored three times against our opponent. Had we added one more, we would definitely break our opponent entirely.”