It may not ultimately be that easy for Friborg against Lugano. In St-Léonard during Act III of the quarter-finals of the National League playoffs, the Dragons lost 2-1 after overtime. Gottéron therefore only leads 2-1 in the series.
In a very clashy match, Luca Fazzini opened the scoring in the 10th minute at 5 against 3 for the Bianconeri. Chris DiDomenico equalized for Gottéron in the 29th, again in power play.
The Ticino forced the decision after 2’49” of play in overtime. Arttu Ruotsalainen beat Reto Berra in a high-class action to restart this series. A few seconds before the Finn’s goal, Jacob De la Rose had wasted a golden opportunity to give the locals victory.
Schlegel in place of Koskinen
Marked by the match penalties inflicted on Julien Sprunger (5th) and John Quenneville (38th), this meeting validated the strong choice of Luca Gianinazzi. The Ticino coach had, in fact, started Niklas Schlegel in the cage, instead of Mikko Koskinen who was hardly to his advantage during the first two matches.
For his first meeting since January 23, Schlegel made 37 saves to assert himself as the big man of the evening. However, he still has the hardest part to do: continue on Friday for an act IV which will not lack salt.
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