Lugano picks up first points against Mannheim

HC Lugano – Adler Mannheim

In the opening game of the Spengler Cup Swiss NLA participant Lugano and DEL’s Adler Mannheim faced each other.

Mannheim started strong and with a log of pressure and as a consequence the guest from Germany scored the first goal by Brent Raedeke in the 5th minute of the game. The Adler kept on pushing when Ryan MacMurphy got the puck at center ice and skated towards goalie Merzlikins and scored the second goal of the game from a short distance. Little was seen from Lugano so far but 2 minutes before the period ended Fredrik Pettersson was able to break away but Denis Endras kept the upper hand and his goal clear in the first period.

It seemed that Mannheim had the game under control, MacMurchy’s second goal in the 28th minute was a solo attempt by the Mannheim forward. But from then on, the Luganesi had the momentum on their side. Fredrik Pettersson scored the first goal 32 minutes in the game. 4 minutes later Damien Brunner beat Endras and in the 39th minute it was the Swedish forward Pettersson with his second goal and equalizer who gave his team a chance to win this game in the last period.

Denis Endras in a short interview after two periods: „They (Lugano) put on a lot of pressure and hardly gave us time to create some good situations. We know that Lugano playes very good hockey and we need to find a way to bounce back into this game.“

Lugano started the last period with a boxplay and continued pushing towards Endras’ goal in the following minutes. 5 minutes were played when Linus Klasen scored the 4th goal for Lugano when he stood close to the far post and received the puck from his Swedish countryman Tony Martensson. What happened in the following minute was an embarrassement for Mannheim’s defense as it was Klasen with a beautiful solo who deked Endras and left him no chance when scoring his second goal.

Mannheim tried to get back into the game after this turbulent sequence but Lugano’s defense stood solid, making it difficult for the Germans to even get near goalie Merzlikins. With less than a minute to go, Endras left his goal for a 6th attacker but on a counter attack, Alessio Bertaggia scored the empty netter to make it 6-3 for Lugano. 

Damien Brunner after the game: We slept at the beginning of the game,  we knew we could play better and I think we deserved the win, definitely playing two better periods than our opponents. 

Jochen Hecht: We played well in the first period, had a few good turn-overs but afterwards we lost the focus and that's was cost us the win tonight. 

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