Salzburg wins in Zagreb to take the lead

Everyone knew it was going to be tough, everyone knew it was going to be emotional and aggressive, and no one was wrong about it. The game started with Robert Kristan between the pipes for the Bears although he suffered a big hit by Salzburg player two days prior to the match.

"He came to the practice this morning, we talked about it and he said he was ready, that's why I put him in the net", said coach Raymond after the match.

Bruckler started in the net for the visitors and had a great start with two fantastic saves against excellent Slovakian Jakub Gasparovic, who came to the team two weeks ago. Salzburg were dominant in the first period with more chances than the hosts. And finally, while David Brine was serving two minutes for slashing, the Bears' defence tried to shoot the puck out of their zone, but it only came to Matthias Trattnig, who scores from the blue line to bring Salzburg the lead two minutes before the first intermission.

At the start of the second period in the crater of  Ledena Dvorana, the Bears had the momentum on their side. The Slovak connection finally worked when antoher Slovak for the home team, Roman Tomas, passed the puck up front to Gasparovic, who came one-on-one with Bruckler and put the puck in the net. It was his first goal for his team in front of home fans.

"I don't know how to feel. It was a good game, it hurts me that we conceeded two in the last minutes. I managed to score two goals thanks to my team mates, it was the effort we put in together", Gasparovic told us after the game.

Salzburg got back into the lead through Dominique Heinrich, who scores in a 4-on-4 situation as Adam Miller (Medvescak) and Yorick Treille (Salzburg) were in the box.

At the start of the third, Miller got the loose puck from the faceoff circle, and Bruckler put on a fantastic pad save to stop Medvescak from making the game tied.   Soon after, Miller got called for slashing and the visitors' captain made them pay with a goal for 3-1. Jakub Gasparovic then scores with 10 minutes to go. Medvescak tried hard and gave all they could, but it wasn't enough. To end the game, within the last two minutes, Ryan Duncan and Yorick Treille scored to increase the goal difference in a valuable victory on the road.

"It seems like every year we get to the playoffs and then we lead the battle with suspensions and injuries. We missed our three key guys today and only one of them [Kyle Greentree] is coming back in Salzburg and we'll have to play a game of our life if we want to survive. Waugh is lost for the season and Brandon Buck (torn MCL) might be coming in game 6 or 7, if there is one. I'm very proud of our youngster Luka Mikulic who played a great game in the playoffs being only 17 and seeing his debut for the first team", home team coach Marty Raymond said in a statement during the press conference.

Asked about a player throwing a bottle of water on the ice, he admitted they have to stay disciplined and concentrated on the game, although some referees' decisions might be incorrect and towards the Croatian team.

Salzburg's coach, Pierre Pagé stated during the press conference: "The main thing is we stayed focused today. We were really mad at our guys losing control in the last game and now we'll have to miss him for three more games. We regained focus and that's what's important right now."

Salzburg now has the lead in the series 2-1 but also a psychological advantage before the next game takes place in Austria. It will for sure be a tough game, and Medvescak will not surrender without a fight.

"Of course we have a chance, it's a long series and we're going to Salzburg to win the game. We missed our two key forwards who score most goals for us, especially on the powerplay, which we almost never play against Salzburg. But all in all, I don't think the referees were all against us, we'll just have to put up with it", Dario Kostovic gave his summary.

Tweets by @eurohockey