Luca Fazzini paves the way for HC Lugano's 4-1 derby win over Ambri-Piotta. Only the Ticino derby does not take place in front of a sold-out crowd. These are the facts of Monday's seven games.
23.12.2024, 22:59
23.12.2024, 23:04
SDA
In the 258th Ticino derby, the home team prevailed for the third time this season. After Manix Landry made it 0:1, Lugano got into the game much better in the second period and turned the tide through Jiri Sekac and Luca Fazzini within less than a minute and a half. Fazzini now has 14 goals for the season and cemented his standing as the best Swiss scorer in the league. With one game in hand, the HCL has now closed the gap to two points on its cantonal rivals.
Strong goalies
EHC Biel can't seem to score goals against SC Bern on home ice. While the team from Seeland already failed to score in their home game at the end of November (0:1), there was nothing for EHCB to cheer about this time either in a 0:3 loss. If the departing Philip Wüthrich proved to be insurmountable last time, the Biel team had their teeth out with Adam Reideborn this time. A strong first period with goals from Benjamin Baumgartner, Thierry Bader and Waltteri Merelä was enough for the now third-placed Bernese to secure their third win in a row.
Three returnees
Everything is back on track for the ZSC Lions ahead of Christmas. With their 4:1 home win over the Lakers, the Zurich team regained the top of the table, while the previously injured Sven Andrighetto (goal for 4:1), Dennis Malgin and Rudolfs Balcers (assist for 1:0) made their comeback. The Zurich team had bad luck with the ice hockey VAR again after the upset against Bern. The supposed 3:0 was annulled despite not quite clear pictures, so that the Lakers found their way back into the game with the final goal. ZSC only secured a clear victory in the final 111 seconds.
Leuenberger's debut
Fribourg-Gottéron got back to winning ways three days before the start of the Spengler Cup. In the first game under new coach Lars Leuenberger in Zug, it was Yannick Rathgeb who gave his team a deserved 2-1 lead with a strong finish seven minutes before the end. Rathgeb was one of the players who had previously been at the bottom of coach Emond's list. Leuenberger had his new team focus primarily on defending - which worked brilliantly. In the last two games under Patrick Emond, Gottéron had not even scored a goal against Kloten (0:2) and the Lakers (0:4).
Lausanne in luck
The duel between the strongest goalies in the National League was won by Kevin Pasche (Lausanne/41 saves) against Stéphane Charlin (Langnau/31 saves). Lausanne prevailed 4:3 after a penalty shootout after the SCL Tigers had led 3:2 until 94 seconds before the end. Jason Fuchs equalized at 3:3 with six against five field players. In the penalty shootout, Janne Kuokkanen scored twice for Lausanne, while Ville Saarijärvi only scored once for the Tigers.
Ajoie loses to Servette
HC Ajoie equalized twice against Servette in front of over 5,100 spectators, but ultimately lost 2:4. Alessio Bertaggia and Sakari Manninen scored in the final period to give Servette the away win. Manninen scored two goals for Servette.
Kloten better and better
EHC Kloten confirmed their status as a top team with a 4-3 win over HC Davos (who have lost five of their last six games). Kloten and Davos played out an open exchange of blows: Kloten fell behind early, then took a 3:1 lead, but lost it again before Dario Meyer scored the winning goal for Kloten in the final period.
