Pardubice, Czech Republic – HC Dynamo Pardubice made a statement in the opening game of their quarterfinal playoff series against HC Kometa Brno, securing a decisive 5-1 victory on Tuesday. A dominant performance, punctuated by two goals from forward Jiří Smejkal, propelled Pardubice to a strong start in the best-of-seven series. The win showcased not only Pardubice’s offensive firepower but similarly their resilience in overcoming a high penalty count.
Smejkal, who has been steadily regaining form after a lengthy injury, was instrumental in the victory. He credited Peter Čerešňák with providing the assists for both of his goals. “Čero (Peter Čerešňák) found me beautifully twice, and thankfully I was able to put them in,” Smejkal said after the game. “I’m happy about that, but it doesn’t matter who scores the goals.”
Pardubice coach Václav Kočí highlighted the team’s overall performance, although acknowledging the need to reduce penalties. “We played a good game from the first minute,” Kočí stated. “I would criticize us for too many penalties; we could have conceded a few goals there. The power plays decided the game, which we utilized.” Pardubice capitalized on their power play opportunities, scoring three times while a man advantage.
Brno’s attempt to shift the momentum with a successful coach’s challenge in the 48th minute backfired, as Pardubice responded with two quick goals to extend their lead to 3-1 and 4-1. Despite a goal from Kristián Pospíšil, who hit the post earlier in the game, Brno struggled to break through Pardubice’s defense.
Smejkal emphasized the team’s ability to maintain their game plan even when facing adversity. “I think all year, even when we’ve been down by two goals, we haven’t deviated from our game,” he explained. “Today, we were the better team for most of the game, distributed the workload, all four lines played a similar amount of time, and everyone contributed to the win. We feel the team has a lot of strength. We don’t desire to be pushed around; we play cleanly but hard – and we stand together.”
The game wasn’t without its challenges for Pardubice, who accumulated 18 minutes in penalties, including several concurrent minors. However, they successfully killed off five penalties, demonstrating their defensive resolve. “We definitely don’t want to have that many penalties in a game, but we played them brilliantly, which helped us,” Smejkal added. “Our power play has been at a good level all year, and we’ve been working on it.”
Pardubice entered the game after a nearly two-week break, having held a training camp in Liberec and a practice match on Friday. Smejkal felt the team was well-prepared. “We had a training camp in Liberec, where I think we worked hard. Then we had a practice game here on Friday. We tried some things there, it wasn’t bad, and it helped us. It didn’t feel like we were searching for our game today. We were ready to go from the start. So the break went by pretty quickly.”
The performance of goaltender Malcolm Subban was also a key factor in Pardubice’s victory. He stopped 19 of 20 shots, with Pospíšil’s goal being the only one to get past him. Assistant coach Václav Kočí downplayed any discussion of Subban being the definitive number one goaltender, stating, “I wouldn’t call him the number one. He just started in the first game… We decided that when we talked about it in the locker room.”
Another player returning from injury, Vladimír Sobotka, opened the scoring just two minutes into the game. Sobotka expressed his focus on continued improvement. “I don’t need any extra motivation; I’m doing everything I can to win the next game and improve. There were a lot of unnecessary penalties. Maybe it took a while to get our legs under us,” he admitted. “But we started well. We tried to be active and play the puck. We had good movement, and we were helped by winning battles along the boards and in front of the net. We did a good job today.”
Looking ahead, Pardubice will aim to carry this momentum into the second game of the series, scheduled for Friday. Brno will need to address their penalty trouble and uncover ways to generate more offense if they hope to even the series. The focus for Pardubice will be maintaining their disciplined play and capitalizing on their scoring opportunities.
Key Takeaways:
- Jiří Smejkal’s two goals were crucial in Pardubice’s dominant victory.
- Pardubice effectively neutralized Brno’s offense, allowing only one goal on 20 shots.
- The team’s ability to kill off a high number of penalties was a significant factor in their success.
- Brno will need to improve their special teams play to compete in the series.
The next game in the series is scheduled for Friday, March 20th. Fans can follow updates and live coverage on the official HC Dynamo Pardubice website and through various sports news outlets.
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