After advancing to last year’s Final, Tappara Tampere are off to the Champions Hockey League Quarter-Finals this season after drawing HC Davos 2-2 on home ice to win by a single goal on aggregate.
Tappara's Maksim Matushkin thinks it was "a tough battle out there."
The first period was carefully played on both sides, despite many scoring chances for both Tappara and Davos. It would take until the final minutes of the second period for either team to score and unfortunately for Tappara, it would be Davos's Enzo Corvi who would break the deadlock to tie the series 1-1.
"It's hard to create chances when the game is so tight in the middle of the ice," said Matushkin, "Davos are a really good team!"
We are really glad to move onTappara Tampere's Maksim Matushkin
Tappara would get back into the game with two third-period goals just 25 seconds apart, but a late Davos equaliser would spoil the party. Tappara would still go through, but only after a 2-2 draw on home ice.
"The entire series was tight - both teams were really going for it," said Matushkin.
"It's a little strange playing with a 1-0 lead," he added, "the First Game was 1-0 and this one ended 2-2 so they were both games of defence, tactics, low scores and a lot of individual skill"
"We are really glad to move on!" he ended.