On Monday, despite major personnel concerns (7 injured players) and a clearly negative shot ratio (11:37), Davos secured a 1-0 win in Lausanne and thus 2 match pucks for a place in the semi-finals. But on Wednesday evening the ice hockey gods were no longer kind to the HCD.
On the one hand, the home side were further decimated after Joakim Nordström’s illness-related absence and were only able to compete with four foreigners in the absence of the injured Kristian Näkyvä and Dennis Rasmussen. On the other hand, the guests were much more efficient than they were two days ago.
Suomela in goal mood
Above all, Lausanne’s qualifying top scorer Antti Suomela had his sights set much better. He first opened the score in the 6th minute with the advantage. He later added goals to make it 3:1 (24th) and 4:1 (27th).
Legend:
Went ahead with performance at Lausanne
Antti Suomela (left).
Keystone/GIAN EHRENZELLER
For his second goal, the Finnish attacker caught HCD keeper Sandro Aeschlimann backhand from a tight angle in the near corner. 3 minutes later, after a mix-up in the HCD defense, he scored coldly with a wrist shot.
When Théo Rochette scored 5-1 shortly after the middle of the game with a remarkable solo, the HCD was finally out of steam. Aeschlimann, who was the match winner with his shutout on Monday, was replaced by Gilles Senn.
Bristedt scores twice for Davos
In general, the record champions only briefly had hope of a successful evening and the associated semi-final qualification in front of their home crowd. Leon Bristedt scored with a blast to make it 1-2 in the power play (13th) and somewhat mitigated the false start – Jiri Sekac had doubled just three minutes after Suomela’s 1-0.
It was Bristedt who, in a spiteful last third with various unclean actions with a penalty six minutes before the end, ensured that the result was cosmetic and the final score was 5:2.
Nussbaumer tackled harshly
There were no further HCD success reports – on the contrary: in the final third, top scorer Valentin Nussbaumer had to be led off the ice, visibly dazed. He was checked hard by Lausanne’s captain Michael Raffl on the open ice and did not return to the field.
The only goalscorer in Game 5 had to take a hard check on the boards in the first third. The HCD hospital is in danger of becoming even bigger.
Lausanne also had cancellations
There were also failures to complain about at Lausanne: Andrea Glauser was injured in the second third after a duel with Chris Egli, Benjamin Bougro was unable to continue after a collision with Bristedt.
So both Davos and Lausanne should be happy that no games were scheduled on Good Friday. Both teams will benefit from an additional day of rest before the showdown in Game 7 in Lausanne on Saturday evening.