The Valaisans lost their second confrontation once morest the Solothurns in the Swiss League play-off. La Chaux-de-Fonds, for its part, played two extensions in Visp.
© Martin Meienberger/freshfocus
Olten took off in his series once morest Sierre.
The second evening of the quarter-finals of the Swiss League play-offs, which are played in the best of seven matches, smiled on La Chaux-de-Fonds, but not on HC Sierre. The HCC won in Visp 4-3 ap (0-2 2-1 1-0) and leads its series 2-0, while the Valaisans lost at home once morest Olten 2-4 (1-1 0 -2 1-1) and trail 0-2 in the series.
In Visp, it was necessary to play two extensions to know the winner of the second head-to-head. It was finally Julien Privet, in the 98th minute, who scored the winning goal and offered a second point in the series to the HCC. Yet Viège seemed to have done the hardest part as he led 3-1 in the 38th minute. But in the minute that followed, the Valaisans went crazy and found themselves 3 once morest 5. An opportunity that the Bees seized, Toms Anderssons scoring the 2-3 (39th). Shooting twice as many on goal as their opponent in the last third, the Neuchâtelois came back tied through Loïc In-Albon (53rd). Then, Julien Privet closed the evening.
Sierre was off to a good start
In Graben, in front of 2,517 spectators, HC Sierre once more came up once morest Olten. But, beaten 8-2 last Sunday, the men of Dany Gelinas resisted better once morest the Soleurois. It was even Latvian Rihards Puide who opened the scoring for the hosts in the 5th minute.
But the realism of Lars Leuenberger’s players quickly made the difference, Forget (20th), Knelsen (32nd) and Nunn (32nd) gave their colors a definite advantage. Maxime Montandon kept hope alive by scoring in the 46th, but Wyss (55th) gave Olten a two-step lead. The third confrontation will take place on Thursday (7:45 p.m.), in Olten.
In the other meetings, Kloten and Thurgau confirmed the result of the first game and lead their series 2-0. The Aviators won easily in Küsnacht once morest the GCK Lions 6-1 (3-0 0-0 3-1) and the Thurgoviens won at the Shoren once morest Langenthal 4-1 (2-0 1-0 1-1).