National League on Saturday – ZSC extends league lead – Bern ends losing streak – Sport

Legend:

Quiet holidays await

The Lions spend the Spengler Cup break as leaders with a reassuring cushion.

Keystone/Ennio Leanza

  • The ZSC Lions win the top game of the National League against Freiburg and extend their lead in the table thanks to EV Zug’s defeat in Biel.
  • Lugano turns things around against bottom team Ajoie after being 3-0 down.
  • Bern returns to victory in Kloten. Davos is warming up for the Spengler Cup in Rapperswil.

ZSC Lions – Freiburg 2:1

It was already clear before the last National League round of the year that the ZSC Lions would spend the festive season as leaders. After the defeat in the top game against EVZ on Thursday, a reaction was still required from Zurich – and it came. Freiburg’s Christoph Bertschy (15th) ended his 15-game goal drought with a power play goal. After that, two Yannicks did it for the Lions: Yannick Weber (20th) equalized before the first break. Shortly after the middle of the game, it was Yannick Zehnder who was completely blank in the center after a pass from Dean Kukan and scored to make it 2-1 for the home team. For the final third, Christian Dubé changed his lines to force the equalizer. However, the project failed despite an overall score of 26:17 for the guests.

ZSC coach Marc Crawford

Legend:

Is it Christmas already today?

ZSC coach Marc Crawford and his staff presented themselves in Christmas outfits at the last game of the year.

Keystone/Ennio Leanza

Biel – Zug 4:1

Biel achieved its 4th win from its last 5 games. Against the recently strong Zug team (4 successes de suite), Yanick Stampfli opened the score with his first goal of the season (18th). After Fabrice Herzog’s equalizer (23′), Fabio Hofer put the Zealanders back in front with a deflection midway through the game. Jérémie Bärtschi closed the sack in the 49th minute. Toni Rajala hit the empty goal two minutes before the end. EVZ is still in second place, but the gap to leader ZSC has grown to 7 points.

Lugano – Ajoie 6:3

Spectacle in Lugano: Ajoie, inspired by the victory in Bern on Thursday (3:2 nV), started like a fire engine and was already leading 2-0 after 177 seconds. After a good 24 minutes it was already 3-0 for the Jurassians. Only then did the Luganesi get going, and they did it right: the home team equalized in the middle third within 8 minutes and 6 seconds. And in the last 7 minutes, Luca Fazzini with a brace and Calvin Thürkauf actually turned things around.

Rapperswil-Jona – Davos 1:5

HC Davos warmed up for the Spengler Cup in Rapperswil. The Graubünden team celebrated an easy 5-1 victory. Sven Jung (8th) and Leon Bristedt (18th) as well as Marc Wieser (34th) in the power play gave the guests a comfortable 3-0 lead. Rapperswil-Jona also had a few opportunities in the majority, but was unable to take advantage of them. Only in the final third were the Rosenstädters able to reduce the deficit, but the HCD responded with two more goals.

Kloten – Bern 1:4

After 4 defeats in a row – 3 of them after extra time or penalty shootouts – SCB was once again able to leave the ice as winners. The success of the troubled Kloteners was deserved, but the Bernese were far from being efficient. Until the opening goal by Tristan Scherwey (29th), who was successful after a rebound from Juha Metsola, the guests left 4 power plays unused. Thierry Bader added shortly before the break in the second period. In the final period, things briefly got exciting again after Axel Simic’s goal (45′). The striker was completely forgotten and was able to attack Adam Reideborn alone after a pass from Leandro Profico. Ramon Untersander (48th) secured the victory for the Bernese team with a power-hit goal shortly afterwards. Marco Lehmann also scored into the empty goal.

The other games

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