The stereotypical view of Finnish hockey is one of solid defense and opportunistic offense, capable of shutting down play, blunting the opposition and progressing through pragmatism.
Jokerit hasn’t always lived up to that stereotype this season – the free-scoring antics of the LoKoMo line offering a rather different approach to the game – but it’s win in Ufa on Wednesday was a classic example of the Finnish game.
The visitor profited from the first power play of the night, taking a fourth-minute lead through Tommi Huhtala after Alexander Mereskin was penalized early on. Henceforth Jokerit looked to control the game and keep Salavat Yulaev at arm’s length; There were just 18 more shots on Leland Irving’s goal and a second goal came into an empty net in the last minute.
Meanwhile rigid defense effectively kept the home team at bay with Riku Helenius making 26 saves to help his team return to third in the Western Conference.
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Wednesday’s other game saw Barys win 4-2 at HC Sochi. The visitor recovered from Max Warn’s early goal to build a 4-1 lead by the end of the second period, with Roman Starchenko posting 1+2 to set his team on the road to victory. Mikhail Anisin got one back in the final session but there was little danger of a Sochi revival.
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КХЛ 2008—2021
KHL 2008—2021
All rights to materials posted on the website www.khl.ru (hereinafter referred to as the Website) and which are the objects of exclusive rights, including the registered trademarks and symbolics of the “КХЛ”/“KHL”, “МХЛ” / “JHL”, “ЖХЛ” / “WHL” (hereinafter referred to as the Trademarks), as well as on photo and video images, articles, etc., which are owned by CHL LLC, are protected in compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. The placement and / or use of Trademarks and other intellectual property of CHL LLC without the direct consent of CHL LLC are considered and prosecuted as intellectual property rights violations of CHL LLC in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation. It is forbidden to automatically extract information from the Website by any services without the official permission of CHL LLC. Quoting from the Website and satellite projects of the official messages of the Kontinental Hockey League is allowed only with a direct link to the site www.khl.ru.