BRATISLAVA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The 25th round of the Slovak ice hockey premiership produced an attractive fixture between the red-hot HC Slovan Bratislava and second-ranked HKM Zvolen. The Tipos Extraliga league leader confirmed its superb form, winning the ninth consecutive match by outscoring the reigning champions 5-3.
HC Slovan continues to produce solid results in the Slovak premiership. The team from the country's capital scored three in a row to set the mood in the home arena (still without any fans present due to an ongoing nationwide lockdown caused by the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic).
Zvolen tried to mount a comeback in the final period by scoring two early goals and cutting the deficit to 2-3 but Slovan's American forward William Rapuzzi scored his second of the night during a powerplay and Marcel Hascak stretched the lead to 5-2. Three minutes later. Zvolen scored one more but only adjusted the final result to 3-5.
In the battle between two clubs from the East which lost their previous three rounds, Michalovce managed to tie the game against Kosice twice and took the lead for the first time in the 54th minute thanks to Pavol Regenda's second goal of the night. Kosice did not cave in and rallied instead.
It was Canadian forward Allan McPherson who tied the game 90 seconds later and Extraliga's top scorer Pavel Klhufek put his team into the lead for the third and final time with his 14th of the season. McPherson's empty-netter set the final score to 5-3 in the final minute.
Elsewhere, HK Spisska Nova Ves managed to keep up with HK Nitra only in the first period dominated by offense (2-2), but the home team scored three uninterrupted goals after that and cruised to a 5-2 victory, moving back to the third spot in the standings.
HC Grotto Presov's weak performances continue to pile up -- the newcomer lost the fifth game in six rounds on Friday. HK Poprad's Dutch defenseman Mike Dalhuisen was on both the opening and closing end of things, scoring the first goal of the match in the second period through the pads of the home teams' goalie, and setting the final result to 4-2 on an empty-netter while killing a powerplay.
Despite failing to capitalize on a penalty shot in the very first minute of the fixture against Dukla Trencin, MHK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas managed to grab a 2-goal lead in the second period which resulted in the final 3-1 victory that was topped up by an empty-netter.
The home team's Czech goalie Tomas Vosvrda only let one puck slip past him and made a whopping 45 saves, significantly helping his team gain the fifth regulation-time victory of the season.
Elsewhere, the clash between eleventh Banska Bystrica and tenth Nove Zamky was a very close one. The home team built a 3-1 lead late in the game but Nove Zamky pulled its goalie and cut the deficit to one. Despite great effort, the visitors failed to push the game into OT and had to relinquish their spot in favor of the "rams", both teams having amassed 25 points so far. Enditem
