Following his team's 5–4 home-ice victory over Skellefteå AIK on Tuesday, JYP Jyväskylä coach Marko Virtanen preferred to focus on the positives of the victory, rather than the fact his team had a four-goal lead that was reduced to one heading into the second game of this total-goal series.

by Jere Korkalainen

JYVÄSKYLÄ – JYP Jyväskylä faced a huge challenge when they drew Skellefteå AIK as a playoff opponent. After two periods, however, they led 5–1 and were only 20 minutes away from taking a huge four-goal lead into the second half of the series. Skellefteå came back with three third-period goals to close the gap to one. Instead of being down, however, JYP coach Marko Virtanen was overall pleased with his team's win over a strong opponent. 

Coach, what are your overall thoughts on the game?
We beat a really tough team. We played very fast and got them out of their comfort zone. Every player had the chance to show what they are made of. 

What can you say about Skellefteå as an opponent?
They are a very skilled team and those goals (in the third period) showed it. On their first goal we had three guys covering  the scorer (Kirill Kabanov) but he still managed to score. They are an amazing team on any scale. You can compare them to any European team and they are still one of the best.

You were up 2–1 after one period, then the next two periods were like two different games. First, you out-scored them 3–0 in the second.
That was our momentum and we played really well. I don't know if any team has led them 5–1.

And then they came back with three against you in the third. 
They were playing a very high-risk game. Their defenceman were really active and we couldn't contain their pressure. After the timeout we got our players to stick together and we managed to hold on and win the game.

So what does that mean for the next game in Sweden?
It will be a whole new game. This game gave us a lot of confidence that we can play at their level. Playing there will be tough but that's the way it has to go in these kinds of games.

Read all about the Skellefteå–JYP series here.