Salzburg is still missing a win to reach the final
Red Bull Salzburg has four match pucks for the final. The “Eisbullen” clearly defeated the Vienna Capitals 4-0 in front of their home crowd on Monday. The championship favorite was thus 3-0 in the “best of seven” series in the ICE league. In the second semi-final series, VSV is 2-1 behind after a 4-0 home defeat against Fehervar.
In addition to head coach Dave Barr, three players are returning to the last of Corona and Caps, including top scorer Nicolai Meyer and goalie Bernhard Starkbaum. But David Kickert guarded the goal, as he did last time. The war in Vienna could only be overcome in the final minute, but this time in the Salzburg Volksgarten a shot from Mike Dalhuisen went through the legs early on (4′).
The Caps also had (counter) chances, but the hosts were the much more dangerous and defensively more stable team. After a few missed chances, Thomas Raffl got the upper hand after a pass from Peter Schneider against Kickert (31st). The 35-year-old captain includes his 600th league scorer point.
The goal was preceded by permanent Salzburg pressure. Peter Hochkofler (35th) and ex-Viennese Ali Wukovits (40th) bring about the preliminary decision before the final third. It didn’t matter that snipers Brian Lebler and Schneider have gone a few games without a goal. On Wednesday (7.15 p.m.) in Vienna, Salzburg are heading towards the next “promotion” (promotion in four games) after the one against Znojmo.
The second semi-final is tighter. After the second defeat in a row, VSV is now 1:2 behind. The “Adler” flew in the 4th minute in a turnover that Josh Atkinson completed to give the visitors an early lead. A double strike in the middle third brought the preliminary decision of the Hungarians. Andrew Sarauer on the power play (28th) and Timothy Campbell (28th) make it 3-0 within eight seconds.
For the first time since the 6-0 loss in the derby against KAC at the end of January, the Villach offensive, which is otherwise so strong, did not fail. Janos Hari scored into the empty goal for Fehervar (59th) and celebrated his goalie Rasmus Tirronen for a shutout, as did his Finnish compatriot Atte Tolvanen in Salzburg.