The Rouen Dragons are flying high after a close contest with HC Donbass Donetsk, playing in front of their home fans for the first time to secure a 4-3 victory.
Despite trailing after the first period, conceding with just 15 seconds left in the opening frame, Rouen responded well in the second, scoring twice through Anthony Guttig and Andrew Johnston, but gave up a quick one after taking the lead which sent the game into the third period tied at two.
It looked like a great start for Rouen in the third, but again, they conceded quickly, but when David Gilbert scored the fourth for the hosts, the visitors from Donetsk couldn’t find a reply, as Rouen secured a victory, in front of their home fans for the first time in a very long time.
“It was really exciting to play back in front of our fans. We’re really happy with the victory” forward Loïc Lampérier said following the win.
After opening their season with back to back losses, the win couldn’t have come at a better time for Rouen.
“We really need to believe we can go further. We’ve got a chance now and we’ve got to seize that on Saturday.”Loïc Lampérier speaks after Rouen beat Donetsk 4-3
“We lost our battle when we played there, we needed to improve that and we tried to improve so it was a little bit better.”
The team may have secured three points, but there’s always room to be better.
“We still made some mistakes and we gave them two goals too, just after scoring, so we can improve again, but it was already better and we’re really happy to have won in front of our fans.”
With the win, Rouen sit third in Group G and will hope for another good performance in front of their home fans on Saturday when they face KAC Klagenfurt.