HK Nitra - HC Košice 4:2 (0:1, 1:1, 3:0)
Goals and assistance: 25. Paulovič (Krištof, Mezei), 41. Paulovič (Krištof, Kutálek), 45. Paulovič (Ručkay H.), 60. Paulovič (Krištof) – 4. Hovorka (Kafka), 28. Pacan (Klíma)
Excluded players: 6:7 for 2 minutes, in addition Bača (KOS - 10 minutes for head and neck attacking) power plays: 1:1, defense plays: 0:1, referees: Lokšík, Novák - Gegáň, Výleta, 2,463 visitors
HK Nitra: Foltán – Mezei, Rýgl, Ordzovenský, Milam, Miro Pupák, Versteeg, Korím, Michal Pupák – Kutálek, Krištof, Paulovič – Blackwater, Mikúš, H. Ručkay – Luciani, J. Ručkay, Rzavský – Šille, Ondrušek, Csányi
HC Košice: Lundström – Dudáš, Šedivý, Čížek, Bača, Kessel, Pulli, Matejka, Koch – Hričina, Boltun, Nagy – Kafka, Hovorka, Koyš – Klíma, Pacan, Šoltés – Vrábeľ, Suja, Petráš
The second “smash” of the season within three days brought an interesting hockey-match already in its beginning. In the 4th minute Csányi got his chance to score but his attempt was destroyed by Lundström. Several seconds later the metallurgists enjoyed the advantage of the power play and used it pretty fast. Eight seconds was enough for Hovorka to score from behind the circles and his team was leading. In the next course we also saw the chance of Čížek who toyed with Nitra defense, however he missed a chance to score. Pulli also failed to score, he tried to pass the puck to the net, but not successfully. After 20 minutes of the game the valid score was 0:1 in terms of home team Nitra.
A pretty fast goal we saw also in the middle of the regular play time, too bad for us that this goal hit Košice's net. It happened after Paulovič's finish who did not give a chance to Lundström and scored from the close distance. But Nitra was not enjoying the tie for a long time. Less than three minutes later, during own defense play, a trio of Košice players escaped the opponent and Pacan used a great chance and scored. Before the break we could have added one more goal, but the structure of Nitra's goal post was standing against the Pulli's shot, so the score remained unchanged.
The atmosphere of the third period copied the first two. So we saw another fast goal. It came after 27 seconds of the game, when Paulovič used Krištof's pass and added his second goal in the match. Three minutes later Košice had their chance to lead; but Foltán stopped Hovorka's attempt as well as Klíma's finish. The opponent used their power play and Nitra started to lead after Paulovič's third goal in the match. At the end Paulovič added one mote goal to the empty net of Košice. So Nitra added three points to their account.
Andrej Kmeč, Nitra Coach: “We started the match too carefully. But the initial stress gradually vanished and in the second period we managed to play the game as we agreed in the changing room. We broke it in the final part, and even though the finis was hectic, we achieved the victory.”
Milan Jančuška, Košice Coach: “We saw an interesting match and we could have won. We had several chances and opportunities to score, but it did not happen. I would say that today the winning team was not the better one but the one with more luck.”
