Juuso Puustinen’s goal on a slap shot with 4:18 to play was the difference in JYP Jyväskylä’s 3-2 victory over EV Zug, in a game that both started and finished well for the home team, but there were some worrisome moments in the middle.
Janne Kolehmainen made CHL history when he opened the scoring just eight seconds into the game, going to the net and converting a rebound. That was the only goal of the first period, but JYP extended their lead to 2-0 in the 27th minute, with Jerry Turkulainen driving to the net and converting a nice centring pass from Antti Suomela.
“We didn’t get off to a very good start. I thought in the first period we had maybe too much respect. We weren’t physical or fast enough and gave them too much room. But we fought back to tie it, and even though we didn’t win it in the end, we gave it a good battle.”Zug coach Harold Kreis
Zug fought back to even, starting with a brilliant breakaway goal by Lino Martschini, who faked a shot and froze goalie Jussi Olkinuora before beating him with a forehand deke. Then Timothy Kast made it 2-2 on Zug’s first shot of the third period, which went through a crowd.
“I don’t know if JYP were better, I think it was a pretty even game. In the third period, we were probably the better team and the second was pretty even. Could’ve gone either way. We had some chances in the third to win it on the power play. They’re a hardworking team, they've got some good players and we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game tonight.”Viktor Stålberg, forward, EV Zug
“Considering it’s the first game of the season, we played rather well, in my opinion. We played strong and I felt our opponent got a little frustrated with our tempo. We were controlling the game in the first period, but it’s a game of momentum, so they had their opportunities to get back into the game and tie it up. I think it was a really good performance by us - a solid effort and strong on the penalty kill.”Juuso Puustinen, forward, JYP Jyväskylä