International Hockey

IIHF – Nitra in pole position

IIHF - Nitra in pole position

HK Nitra enters the last day of the 2023 IIHF Continental Cup Final in pole position after edging host Angers Ducs 3-2 on Saturday night. The Slovaks blew a 2-0 lead but beat the French in a shootout.

Thanks to the win, Nitra leads the standings with five points ahead of the Cardiff Devils with four. The two teams will meet tomorrow afternoon at 14:00 local time (13:00 GMT) to determine the Continental Cup winner. The game will be streamed live on IIHF.com.

It was the game between the two undefeated teams of the tournament – one that was to make a preliminary decision for the tournament win. HK Nitra entered the game with a clean 4-0 record in this season’s Continental Cup. The Angers Ducs had just lost one game in Cardiff but avenged it by beating the Cardiff Devils 2-1 in shootout last night.

Both teams also won thanks to their goalkeepers on Friday and going head to head, the game was very much like a goalies’ game again with the better end for Nitra’s Matthew O’Connor.

Angers and Nitra both had their scoring opportunities in the first period with a statistical advantage for Nitra (12-11 shots on goal) but Angers having more quality chances.

Nitra had its best opportunity to take the lead when Phillipe Halley was sent to the penalty box for four minutes after a high-sticking incident. But the Slovaks could neither convert this man advantage that continued in the second period nor another one later when Maurin Bouvet hooked an opposing player entering the offensive zone. But the goal came for the Slovaks, and it did so with just 13.9 seconds left in the middle frame. Filip Krivosik sent a back pass from the end boards to Jozef Balaz in the left face-off circle and the latter scored from a sharp angle with a high shot.

Angers and its fans at the IceParc hoped for more luck in the third period but a counter-attack ended with the 2-0 goal for HK Nitra. Sahir Gill received the pass but couldn’t score from the left side, went behind the net and found his way to shovel the puck in from the right side with Angers goalkeeper Evan Cowley’s view disturbed after two of his teammates had collided in front of him.

Angers got a ray of hope in the dying minutes of the game when Filip Krivosik was sent to the sin bin. Jonathan Charbonneau scored the long-awaited first goal for Angers on the power play with 2:07 left on the game clock. The atmosphere in Angers erupted and the Ducs seized the momentum. Goalkeeper Cowley was pulled for an additional skater and…

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