Kometa and Zlin draw level

16 Mar 2012 | Jon Rowson

Both lower seeds won their respective Game 4's on Thursday to set up an intriguing conclusion to the Extraliga Quarterfinals.

HC Kometa Brno 3 - 1 HC Sparta Praha

(Series level at 2-2)

Kometa went into this game on the back of two successive defeats in Games 2 and 3, and desperately needed to pick up at least one win at their feared home venue, the Kajot Arena. In a game where they restricted the regular season champions to a paltry 20 shots, Kometa took the lead early on and managed to hold on, shutting out Sparta's deadly top line and will now head back to Prague for a pivotal Game 5.

The eighth seed needed a little over two and a half minutes to take the lead in Game 4, as Hynek Zohorna opened the scoring, The speedy forward broke in on the left wing, and had a large slice of good fortune, as Michal Sersen lost his footing, creating a clear path to the goal, and Zohorna fired past Tomáš Pöpperle to send the majority of the sell out 7200 crowd into raptures.

The second period also belonged to Kometa, as they doubled their advantage five minutes into the second stanza. From his perch behind the goal, Robert Petrovicky picked out Radek Dlouhy unmarked on the left side of the goal, and the latter had all the time in the world to pick his spot and fire the puck into the top corner of the goal, giving Kometa a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period.

Sparta would begin to show some life in the final frame, and they would finally break Jiří Trvaj's shutout bid through Peter Jansky's 52nd minute goal, but Milan Hruška's empty net goal from the red line would seal Game 4 for the side from the second city, and as the series moves back to Prague, Sparta will be desperate to win Game 5.

PSG Zlín 5 - 4 HC Plzeň (Overtime)

(Series level at 2-2)

In a game that was marked by crowd troubles at the end, Zlin picked up a vital win in overtime to send the series back to Plzeň all square. Zlín veteran Petr Leška scored the overtime winner to add to his two assists that he picked up for a three point night, whilst a second period brace for Petr Čajánek helped Zlín to victory.

Zlín had the better of the early going, and they took an early lead through young talent Petr Holík at the seven minute mark, and then less than 90 seconds later, their advantage was doubled, as Bedřich Köhler tapped in a rebound on the powerplay to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

The second period was packed full of scoring, as both teams were really going for it. 94 seconds into the second frame the away side pulled one goal back, as Plzeň showed their quality, and a beautiful piece of passing play set up Václav Pletka all alone in front of the goal, and there was no way he was going to miss. However, Plzeň couldn't keep the momentum, and soon enough Zlin were three goals to the good, as a pair of Čajánek goals, the second on the powerplay giving Zlin what may have been an unassailable lead. Adam Svoboda was relieved of his duties after conceding the fourth goal, the veteran shot stopper allowing four goals on twenty shots. Marek Mazanec replaced him, and he had 17 saves.

The fightback for Plzeň begun in the latter stages of the second period, and from being 4-1 down, they rallied back to leave the score at 4-3 at the end of the second period. Tomáš Vlasák got the first from an impossibly tight angle on the powerplay, and then soon after Radek Duda fed a beautifully weighted backhand pass across the crease, where it met the stick of player-coach Martin Straka, who tapped it past a beaten Luboš Horčička. It was Duda's third assist of the game.

The game entered the third frame with Plzeň having the momentum, and they started to lay siege to the Zlin goal. Their efforts were finally rewarded with just under five minutes to go, as they took advantage of some poor defensive play by the home side, and the puck was eventually bundled into the goal by defenceman Jiří Vykoukal. A delay of game penalty by Lukáš Galvas in the 57th minute gave the road team a chance to even win the game, but Horčička stood strong, making a number of key saves to deny Ondřej Kratena. He made 38 in all.

Overtime beckoned, and Plzeň were the better side, but the luck was truly on Zlin's side. A terrible mistake by Tomáš Vlasák handed a breakaway opportunity to Petr Leška, who coolly beat Mazanec with a backhand finish to win the game for Zlin, and level the series.

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