P l z e ň – The Brno team started the match very actively and created one chance after another. Luboš Horký sent Kometa into the lead after a nice interplay, which was followed up by Radek Koblížek after another great combination. From the second period, Plzeň also got into the offensive action, which managed to equalize and turned the game around in the third period, when first Mertl and then Kodýtek scored twice.
HC Škoda Plzeň – HC Kometa Brno
Goals and saves: 28. Schleiss (Rekonen, Zámorský), 33. Mertl (Rekonen, Zámorský), 42. Mertl (Kremláček, Lang), 53. Kodýtek (Schleiss), 56. Kodýtek (Hrabík, Dvořák) – 10. Horký (Holík), 19. Donut (Kučerík, Flek).
Referee: Jerábek, Sýkora – Komárek, Gerát.
Exclusion: 1:1.
Use: 1:0. In weakening: 0:0.
Spectators: 5583.
Shots on goal: 22:23.
Course of the match: 0:2, 5:2.
Players of the match: Tomáš Mertl – Petr Holík
Pavlát – Zámorský, Malák, Kaňák, Houdek, Kremláček, Kvasnička – Hrabík, Kodýtek, Schleiss (C) – Pour, Malát, Suchý – Rekonen, Mertl (A), Lang – Adamec, Bitten, A. Dvořák.
Furch – Kundrátek (A), Ščotka, Holland, Kučerík, Goulash (A), Hrbas, Němec – Horký, Holík, Flek – Kollár, Raška, Zaťovič (C) – Koblížek, Strömberg, Kratochvíl – Dufek, Malý, Süss.
Commentary on the match
From the beginning, the Comet was full of offensive activity. After just 18 seconds, Luboš Horký rushed for the goal, but at the end he hit the mask of the Pilsen goalkeeper. A moment later, another great chance came when Jakub Malý got into a two-on-one outnumbering with Jan Süss, but even from this action the opening goal did not fall. The people of Brno continued to play brilliantly and Horký got another opportunity, but he had to wait a little longer for the goal. After the ninth minute, Pavlát was already beaten in the goal. Petr Holík reached for a shot, but found it perfectly instead Luboš Horkýwho flipped the puck to the backhand, quickly crossed from the post to the center of the pitch and comfortably finished into the empty net – 0:1.
The difference of two goals could have been increased by Jakub Flek, in front of whom the disc floated on the left circle, but it only hit the goalkeeper. Kodýtek had Pilsen’s best chance in the opening period, whose shot from the right wing was pushed out by Furch with his shoulder. After all, the Brno team went into the locker room with a two-goal lead when they outplayed the home defense and Radek Kučerík’s pass into the half-empty goal Radek Koblízek – 0:2.
The Brno team entered the second period actively. Petr Holík found Jakub Flek with a great pass, but he couldn’t beat Pavlát. Pilsen managed to level the game during the second half and began to penetrate more in front of Dominik Furch. The home team even won a power play. He used it here Jan Schleiss, who received a puck from Rekonen across the bandwidth and beat Furch with a hard shot. The Brno goalkeeper had to do more when he eliminated both Kodýtka and Houdka. In the end, Škodovce was able to settle. Aleksi Rekonen stretched to the goal and served the puck to the far post where he stood ready Tomas Mertl, who quickly swept the puck into the goal – 2:2. In the end, Komet could take the lead back, but Koblízek couldn’t exactly find Kundrátek in a two-on-one situation.
On the contrary, Plzeň took the lead at the beginning of the third period. Tomas Mertl drove into the offensive zone and beat Dominik Furcha with a shot to the catcher – 3:2. A new man in the Komety lineup – Adam Raška – could equalize, who put the defender in front of him and got to the end. Unfortunately, he missed the goal. The West Bohemians bounced back with a two-goal difference eight minutes before the end. Petr Kodytek he received a pass from Schleiss and beat Furch from close range under the catch – 4:2. The people of Brno could have answered immediately by outnumbering three to two, but Horký’s back found only the home defender’s stick. Four and a half minutes before the end, Kometa tried a game without a goalkeeper, which he took advantage of Petr Kodytek – 5:2. In the end, Holík could still cut down, but in the time crunch, Pavlát did not shoot. The home team Plzeň came away victorious from the last game of the year.
Testimonials from coaches
Petr Kořínek: After Liberec, we had a longer meeting yesterday, where we talked about something with the team. In the first third, everything was bad, we didn’t show anything at all. We spoke to each other again and in the second and third periods we performed as a team as we would imagine. We were started by a weakening, which we played very well. That got us back on our feet and I think we’ve been better since then. We are very happy that we managed it and won the last game this year by three points.
Jaroslav Modrý: The match is difficult to evaluate. For the first twenty minutes, we were the team we talked about before the match, the boys worked hard, we pushed Pilsen a lot and we were rewarded with two goals. Paradoxically, what broke our backs was our power play, where we started complicating our lives and inventing things that shouldn’t be there. Subsequently, we started pulling for the short end and here we lost the match. After that we had a few chances, but it was not enough.
