Lukko Rauma were amongst the successful teams to wrap up Playoff qualification on Game Day 5, after the Finnish team saw off Group C rivals the Cardiff Devils on Wednesday night.
Lukko scored three unanswered goals before the Devils struck twice either side of Vili Saarijärvi’s powerplay marker. Saarijärvi then sealed the win with a late empty net goal.
Saarijärvi’s defensive teammate Thomas Grégoire says he is just happy with his team’s strong start that helped keep their Champions Hockey League run going.
The CHL is really fun and it’s great to continueThomas Grégoire, Lukko Rauma
“I think we played fast; we had a strong start. There’s still some things we can improve, for sure, but I think we had a fast-paced game,” said Grégoire, who finished on a plus-one from his 20:23 of ice-time.
“For sure we’re really happy about that, it’s a great experience - the CHL is really fun and it’s great to continue.,” he added.
It wasn’t to be for the Devils and centreman Stephen Dixon, who was unable to make it a winning return to Finland, where he had spent time playing earlier in his career.
“It was a tough loss for us, we’re battling hard in these games and it definitely would’ve been nice to win here,” he said.
“I loved my time in Finland, I had such a great experience in Pori (with Ässät) and playing for Tappara as well, so it’s just nice to come back to Finland - it brings back a lot of good memories.”
The Devils, now coming off three straight CHL defeats, will be hoping for a better result when they close out their CHL schedule against Lukko in Cardiff next week.
“We’ve been playing hard and battling and I know the fans in Cardiff really love these games and we’d love to get them a win in our next game at home,” said Dixon.