Terrible outcome for Fribourg-Gottéron in their third match of the National League play-off semi-finals. The Romands lost 2-3 following extra time once morest the Zurich Lions.
A Denis Malgin goal in the 79th minute crucified a guilty Reto Berra and Gottéron. The public showed their anger as the referees severely canceled a goal by Bykov in the 72nd minute for an obstruction on goalkeeper Waeber. A success that would have allowed Reto Berra’s teammates to come back to 2-1 in the series. The people of Friborg can especially regret not having converted the numerous periods of numerical superiority into a goal. Especially in a largely dominated second period (13-5 on penalties).
Thus for the third time, Fribourgeois and Zurichois separated with a score of 2-2 following regulation time. Are these two teams really inseparable? However, Christian Dubé’s players thought they had done the hard part when Swede Daniel Brodin beat goalkeeper Ludovic Waeber on the power play in the 58th minute.
But definitely nothing works. No team can break away. The Zurichers released their goalkeeper for the last seconds of play. A happy rebound behind Reto Berra’s cage put Denis Malgin in a favorable position. The Hallenstadion sniper did not miss the target to snatch the draw 1’51” following the Friborg goal.
The Fribourgeois had responded to the Zurichois at the start of the match. After the opening of the scoring by the Canadian Azevedo in a tight angle (7th), Chris DiDomenico equalized on a ‘trickster’ goal with a shot taken from an impossible angle (14th). Gottéron might have taken the lead in the 16th minute but Waeber perfectly blocked Killian Mottet’s penalty. More embarrassing for Freiburg, Sprunger left the ice injured in the 47th minute. Unbalanced in a clash with Azevedo, the Dragons striker seems hit in the ribs following hitting the boards.
Davos with your back to the wall
Winner 3-0 of Davos, Zug now leads 3-0 in its semi-final of the National League play-offs.
In this third match, the Davos goalkeeper Sandro Aeschlimann delayed the deadline for a long time. He won his direct duels once morest Jan Kovar and Fabrice Herzog. The young Dario Allenspach opened the scoring in the 6th minute thanks to a favorable rebound. Graubünden saw a goal disallowed for a light obstruction by Marc Wieser on goalkeeper Leonardo Genoni. The decision was this time accepted without flinching by coach Christian Wohlwend.
The Zugois made the break at the start of the last period thanks to a goal from Yannick Zehnder (45th). Dario Simion ended the proceedings with a goal in the empty net 1” from the end of regulation time. The defending champions therefore continue to win despite the silence of their star striker: Gregory Hofmann has only scored one goal since the start of the play-offs.
Led 3-0, will Davos be able to repeat the same feat achieved in the previous round once morest Rapperswil-Jona when he ended up winning the series 4-3? Doubtful insofar as the opponent seems otherwise more solid than the Lakers.
/ ATS
