Rögle Ängelholm beat Tappara Tampere 3-2 for the second time in a row in the Champions Hockey League last night to take a one-goal lead into the Return Game of their Quarter-Finals series.
The Swedes scored three in the first half of regulation before a third-period comeback by the reigning Liiga champions nearly turned the game around. Veteran Tappara player Otto Rauhala was on the ice for this action-packed game.
"We let in some cheap goals"Tappara Tampere's Otto Rauhala
"I think we played a good game overall," started the Tappara player, "but we let in some cheap goals."
Tappara let two goals in during the first period, and one in the second to enter the final period 3-0 down. Throughout the opening frame, they offered Rögle three powerplays and were surprisingly undisciplined on the ice.
"We had our chances in the first period also," mentioned Rauhala, "but we only managed to score in the third."
Their time came in the final period. At 48:22, Niko Ojamäki picked up a stray puck in Rögle's end of the ice and was able to fire it past Calle Clang to make it 3-1.
The Finns scored their second of the game some four minutes later, this time Valtteri Kemiläinen was the one to see his name light up on the scoreboard. Tappara had a powerplay following a Rögle foul, but they just couldn't break down the Swedish team's defence in time. As the powerplay timer struck 0:00, Kemiläinen launched a rocket all the way from the blue line and it somehow found its way through all the traffic and into the net to reduce the deficit down to just one goal.
Tappara pushed for the equaliser, but a resilient Rögle would deny them the pleasure.
"It’s much nicer to head into the home game being just one goal behind rather than three," said the Finn.
Tappara and Rögle faced each other in last season's CHL Final, Rögle won the game 2-1 to lift their first piece of major silverware. How was it facing them again?
"We knew what to expect, we enjoyed the game," said Rauhala, "even though the stands weren’t as full as last time, it was still a great atmosphere!"
"We will chase them at home"Tappara Tampere's Otto Rauhala
Tappara will host Rögle in next week's Return Game which is scheduled for Tuesday, 13 December at 17:35 CET. What can we expect from the Finnish team?
"We will chase them at home - it's going to be a great match and if we win, things will turn around," ended Rauhala.