Preview playoffs NLA East

09 Mar 2014 | Andreas Reiner

ZCS Lions meet Lausanne HC and the Kloten Flyers will play HC Davos in the NLA quarterfinal playoffs

For Lausanne, making the playoffs is already a huge step. They managed to push the current champion SC Bern off the cliff and will face the
Lions who dominated the league, a 20 point margin on the second ranked HC Fribourg-Gotteron was a strong statement.

Lausanne will try to play their role as underdog in this series which everyone clearly sees the Lions winning. Roman Wick, runner up for top scorer
in the regular season was honored as the best forward and MVP a week ago. An honor which is highly considered since he was chosen
by the 12 captains and coaches of the 12 NLA teams. ZSC and Lausanne split the regular season games 2:2.

My prediction for this serie: It's over in 5 games, ZSC will not underestimate Lausanne who were promoted from the NLB last season and will
try to save the energy for the upcoming games.

The 3rd placed Flyers will meet HC Davos, whom they played the last 2 regular season games against. A 0:5 win away and a 2:1 loss at home for the Flyers
couldn't make out a clear favourite for this series. Of the 6 meetings, Kloten won 4. With Peter Mueller (CAN) and Tommi Santala (FIN) Kloten had 2 scorers
in the top ten. Goal scoring will heavily rely on Mueller's scoring. Marcus Paulsson (SWE) had 35 points and was ranked 17 in points. Both teams play an
uptempo hockey so the fans can look forward to some fast games! Both teams already met in the playoff final in 2010/2011 where Davos took the victory
with a 4:2 win.

My prediction for this seris: Kloten will advance to the next round in 7 games, home advantage will definitely play a role for both teams.