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Illustrative photo – Preliminary round of the hockey extraleague play off – 4th match: HC Škoda Plzeň – Bílí Tygři Liberec, March 12, 2023 Pilsen. Pilsen scores the winning goal of the match.
Prague – The preliminaries series of the hockey extra league playoffs between Liberec and Plzeň will end at 2:2 on Tuesday in the north of Bohemia, the match will start at 19:00. The fight for the quarter-finals also continues in Olomouc, on whose ice only the fourth duel is scheduled from 17:00, and the Hanáci will try to convert the match point against Karlovy Vary at the score of 2:1. In the event of Energie's success, the Wednesday duel would be decided again in Olomouc from 18:00.
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Photo gallery: Play off hockey extra league 2023
Some quarter-finalists after the regular season, Pardubice, Vítkovice, Sparta and Hradec Králové, as well as successful teams from the preliminary round – champion Třinec and Kometa Brno – are still waiting for their opponents.
The winner of the regular season of Pardubice will either go to Pilsen, or the better of the pair Olomouc – Karlovy Vary. Vítkovice can face the winner of the series Olomouc – Karlovy Vary, or Kometa Brno. Sparta will face Třinec or Kometa, and Hradec Králové will play Liberec or Třinec.
Thanks to a series of ten wins at the end of the regular season, Liberec was only two points short of being directly in the quarter-finals ahead of Hradec Králové. Plzeň, which, on the other hand, fell to 12th place after ten consecutive setbacks, was able to respond to defeat twice in the series and is defying the third elimination in the preliminary round in a row.
Coach Patrik Augusta expects an even match again, in which the details will decide. “We won't give ourselves another meter of ice, it's a decisive match. It will be a battle. Everyone wants to win and everyone will prepare for it,” said Augusta, whose team does not want to miss the quarterfinals for the first time since 2015. “We will be hungry, we will fight. Definitely personal bravery and discipline,” added White Tigers forward Oscar Flynn.
Last year, from sixth place after the regular season, Plzeň was eliminated in the preliminary round against eleventh-placed Mlada Boleslaví, despite leading twice in the series. Now he is in the opposite situation. “We'll deal with it in the fifth match and see. Small things, details, will decide. It will be a fight for every piece of ice,” said Pilsen coach Petr Kořínek. for the remaining two-thirds of the postponed duel, the series returns to the fourth game in an unconventional manner. Thanks to Sunday's turnaround from 0-2 and a 3-2 overtime win, they have a match point at home.
Hanáci can complete their fourth participation in the quarter-finals in the last five completed years. Only last year they were eliminated in the preliminary round against Vítkovice after losing 2:3 to the matches. “But it's still not over, because we have to win three times. It's open,” declared Olomouc coach Jan Tomajko.
Energie has been waiting to participate in the quarterfinals since 2009, when it won the title. “The winner of the series must get three points, and we will not give Olomouc the third point for free. We will fight,” noted Karlovy Vary coach David Bruk.
Statistics before the 4th and 5th matches of the preliminary round Generali Česká pojišťovna play off hockey Tipsport extra league – March 14 and 15:
HC Olomouc (after the 8th regular season) – HC Energie Karlovy Vary (9th).
Starts: Tuesday 17:00 (CET sport), or Wednesday 18:00.
Series status: 2:1.
Result of the match in the series: 4:1, 4:7, 3:2 in overtime.
Most productive players in the series: Jakub Orsava 3 matches/5 points (3 goals + 2 assists) – Jiří Černoch 3/5 (1+4).
The team's most productive players in the regular season: Jan Káňa 41/32 (12+20) – Jiří Černoch 50/31 (12+19).
Goalkeeper statistics in the series: Branislav Konrád average of 1.88 goals per match and a success rate of 92.59 percent, Jan Lukáš 4.00 and 85.45 – Vladislav Habal 2.88 and 90.20, Štěpán Lukeš 4.50 and 80, 00.
Goalkeeper statistics in the regular season: Jan Lukáš 2.59, 91.41 and five clean sheets, Branislav Konrád 2.52, 90.13 and three clean sheets – Vladislav Habal 2.54 , 90.69 and kept a clean sheet once, Štěpán Lukeš 3.13, 90.18 and kept a clean sheet three times, Petr Hamalčík 4.50 and 85.00. >
– The first duel in the series had to be interrupted on Wednesday after the first period due to unsuitable ice and was played on Thursday. After the duels on Saturday and Sunday in Karlovy Vary, only the fourth game will be played in Olomouc on Tuesday and a possible fifth on Wednesday at the same place. preliminary round after defeating Vítkovice 2:3 for matches.
– Karlovy Vary have been waiting to participate in the quarterfinals since 2009, when they won the title. Since then, they have been in the extra league play-off for the fourth time and were eliminated in the preliminary round three times – in 2011 with Slavia (2:3 on matches), the year before last with Pardubice (1:3) and last season with the same opponent (0:3).< /p>
– At the end of the regular season, Olomouc won only three of the last eight games.
– Hanáci broke the streak of three home defeats when entering the preliminary round against Energia.
– Karlovy Vary have lost four of their last five duels.
– Energie has lost three times in a row.
– Olomouc have won four of their seven matches this season.
– Defender Jiří Ondrušek from Olomouc could play his 500th match in the extra league if the series continues on Wednesday.
White Tigers Liberec (5th) – HC Škoda Pilsen (12th).
Starts: Tuesday 19:00 (O2 TV Sport).
Series status: 2:2.
The result of the match in the series: 4:1, 0:6, 3:1, 1:2 in extra time.
The most productive players in the series: Uvis Janis Balinskis 4/4 (0+4) – Adrián Holešinský, Jakub Pour both 4/4 (2+2).
The team's most productive players in the regular season: Oscar Flynn 51/38 (22+16) – Petr Kodýtek 44/34 (15+19).
Goalkeeper statistics in the series: Petr Kváča 2.39 and 90.91 – Dominik Pavlát 1.67, 93.86 and kept a clean sheet once.
Goalkeeper statistics in the regular part: Petr Kváča 2.10, 92.53 and kept a clean sheet once, Jakub Neužil 3.11, 90.09 and kept a clean sheet once, Daniel Král 3.84 and 85.45 – Miroslav Svoboda 2.61, 91.99 and twice kept a clean sheet, Dominik Pavlát 2.63, 91.30 and twice kept a clean sheet.< /p>
Interesting points:
– The White Tigers have not missed the quarterfinals since 2015, when they did not advance to the playoffs. Since then, in the six playoffs played, they have won the title once (2016), reached the silverware three times (2017, 2019 and 2021) and were eliminated twice in the quarterfinals. Last year it was after a 1:4 defeat against Sparta.
– Plzeň has been waiting for a winning streak in the playoffs since 2019, when it was eliminated only in the semifinals with Třinec and won bronze. In 2021, it was eliminated in the preliminary round with Olomouc (0:3 in matches) and last year with Mlada Boleslav (2:3).
– Liberec is playing Pilsen in the playoffs for the third time. In both 2010 and 2017, he won 4:2 in the quarter-finals.
– After a streak of ten wins, the White Tigers lost two of the last three duels.
– Liberec lost to Pilsen 0 on Thursday: 6 ended a streak of nine home wins.
– After a string of ten victories, Plzeň won two of the last three duels.
– Škoda ended a streak of eight away defeats with their last win in Liberec.
– Liberec has won eight of the last eleven mutual duels.
