- The Lions win Game 3 of the playoff finals in Zug 2-1 and go 3-0 in the series.
- On Monday, the ZSC can make the championship title perfect in the Hallenstadion.
- In the final third, Zurich turned a deficit into a win thanks to a double strike.
Another win separates the ZSC Lions from their 10th championship title, the first since 2018. In game 3 in Zug, the Zurich team celebrated their 9th success in a row and can make everything clear on Monday in the Hallenstadion.
The Lions had been behind in both previous final games, but still managed to turn the tide in both games. In Game 3, Zurich managed this feat again. Going into the final third with a 0-1 mortgage, they turned the game around with a double strike.
- 50 minutes: Maxim Noreau pulls from the blue line, the disc finds its way into the goal via Sven Andrighetto’s leg – 1:1.
- 52 minutes: Denis Hollenstein comes to the disc on the left and plays in the middle. Denis Malgin slides in from an acute angle to make it 2-1.
The Lions made the turnaround in just 92 seconds. They had already done something similar in Game 1. Back then, they needed 87 seconds to turn a 1-2 into a 3-2. The one-two was the reward for a strong phase in which the guests literally constricted the EVZ.
EVZ uses double the majority
The Zugers showed a good performance again, but once again couldn’t reward themselves for it. The game had started well for the Central Swiss. In the 9th minute, Dominik Diem hit Carl Klingberg (for Anton Lander), who had returned to the Zug line-up, in the face and received 2+2 penalty minutes. A little later, Christian Marti followed him into the cool box. EVZ took advantage of the double advantage: Grégory Hofmann made it 1-0 with Zug’s first overtime goal in this series.
The EVZ was also able to maintain this lead because of an improved performance in the manpower game. In the middle third he survived 3 boxplays unscathed. Previously, the Zurich team had scored 3 times in 7 power plays in the final series.
Zehnder’s missed opportunities
Ultimately, the start of the final third was decisive. The people of Zug started better and were close to 2-0. First, a shot by Yannick Zehnder landed on the post in the 44th minute. A little later, the striker missed another good chance. The ZSC survived this phase unscathed and shortly afterwards started to attack, which was crowned with the double strike from Andrighetto and Malgin.