Dynamo Pardubice won the first game of the 95th Spengler Cup against Ambri-Piotta 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday. Lukas Sedlak scored the game-winner 75 seconds into overtime.

Ambri-Piotta had an optimal start into the opening game. Alex Formenton gave the Ticinesi the lead 62 seconds in. On the first shot of the game, he beat Pardubice’s goaltender Roman Will on a breakaway. And things got even better for the Spengler Cup defending champion. On the first powerplay, Formenton redirected a shot by Jesse Virtanen into the Czech net for a 2-0 lead (9^th minute).

Following that however, Pardubice took control over the game. At the end of the first period, the shot differential was 9-4 in favour of the Eastern Europeans, and a whopping 22-7 after 40 minutes of play. The Ticinesi still lead thanks to disciplined and sacrificing defensive work. Ambri’s goalie Janne Juhoven was mostly in the middle of the action, shining with several big saves. Only Matej Paulovic (30^th minute) was able to beat the Finn in Ambri’s net on an individual effort. The Czechs kept applying the pressure in the third period. The logical and deserved consequence was Thomas Zohornas’ equalizer with a precise long-range shot (48^th minute). Only after that did the Swiss put more effort into the offense, but without notable scoring opportunities. In overtime, Lukas Sedlak took advantage of an opponent’s turnover. Parbubice’s captain then decided the game in front of a sell-out crowd of 6,267 in Davos Eisstadion, beating Juvonen for the 3-2 game-winner on a breakaway.

While Pardubice lived up to its early laurels as one of the tournament favourites, earning itself a day off on Wednesday, Ambri will already be in action again tomorrow at 3.10pm for its second game against KalPa Kuopio.

Quelle: Spengler Cup-Online Redaktion   Foto: Keystone