Zug has not yet abdicated. The defending champions “Bulls” won 4-1 at the Hallenstadion in Act IV of the National League playoff final and are now only 3-1 behind the Zurich Lions in the series.
The flame of hope, however, flickered from the 5th minute when the Zurichers opened the scoring on a jewel of goal from Denis Malgin. Again wearing the top-scorer’s yellow helmet, the former LHC center played the Zug defense to beat Leonardo Genoni and put his teammates in an ideal position.
The Zug response
But the players of central Switzerland were able to respond to this first success of the Lions. They waited for the 13th to equalize on a rare rebound granted by goalkeeper Jakub Kovar. Yannick Zehnder was the quickest. The defending champion even took the advantage in the 25th thanks to Christian Djoos and the involuntary help of Patrick Geering. The Zurich defender saw the puck bounce off him before spinning behind Kovar’s goal line. This 2-1 rewarded more enterprising “Bulls”: 29 shots to 11 following 40 minutes.
Coach Dan Tangnes had made some changes, notably removing Grégory Hofmann from the front row with Dario Simion and Jan Kovar to insert Fabrice Herzog. Unhappy in his attempts so far, the Ticino winger found his way back to goal at the best time. He made it 3-1 in the 52nd before Niklas Hansson sealed the score in the empty net. The series therefore leaves for a fifth match in Zug on Wednesday evening.
ats/lper
