After game 1 in the playoff final – world turned upside down after ZSC victory at the start of the final – sports

While the victorious ZSC Lions were self-critical after the 2-1 win, Lausanne gained confidence from the defeat.

Sometimes ice hockey can be so simple: “They simply scored one more goal than us,” said Lausanne coach Geoff Ward, succinctly explaining the 1-2 defeat in Game 1 of the playoff final against the ZSC Lions. Anyone who listened to the protagonists in front of the cloakrooms of the Swiss Life Arena after the start of the final could almost think that the guests from Vaud had won.

But it was not like that. In a very even game, 3 strong minutes in the middle third were enough for the favorites to maintain their unbeaten status in these playoffs.

A penalty against ZSC keeper Simon Hrubec heralded the turning point. After a failed attempt to break free, Lausanne was unable to take advantage of the two-minute penalty. Instead, the people of Zurich shifted gears. Yannick Weber and Derek Grant turned the game around with a dream solo 3 minutes later.

Ward and Frick are still optimistic

Ward analyzed: “It’s the little things that make the difference, and I think we can do them even better.” Defender Lukas Frick agreed with his coach. “We didn’t play our game in the second third, so we fell behind,” said the Eastern Swiss resident in Lausanne. But his team’s good performance in Zurich for a long time also encourages Frick. “The positive thing is that we have opportunities.”

Things haven’t gone particularly well.

In contrast to the frenetic fans who frenetically celebrated their stars in the stadium in Zurich-Altstetten long after the final whistle, the ZSC players were very self-critical. ZSC defender Christian Marti said. “We can count ourselves lucky to have won this match.” The Swiss international, who was partly to blame for the 1-0 defeat, even said: “Things didn’t go very well.”

You have to make sure that you act more stable and controlled and that you are closer to your opponents. “Just make the little details even better,” he comes to the same conclusion as the people of Vaud. Lausanne played very well, that’s no surprise. “It’s good that we win games like this, but we can’t just assume that it will somehow work out in the end.”

Fired up after the final whistle for Game 2

The small but subtle differences led to the decision in favor of the ZSC Lions at the start. Lausanne is desperate for revenge in front of its home crowd on Thursday. The skirmishes and brawls at the end of the game show that the operating temperature is rising on both sides.