Liiga Finals: KooKoo take upper hand with away win over Tappara in game one

[p]The top two in the regular season both won their semi-finals in six matches and are expected to have a close series ahead of them. Getting off to a good start was key, and early on things were going [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tappara/llrWVOwG/"]Tappara[/a]'s way, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/heljanko-christian/46cyipOI/"]Christian Heljanko[/a] was looking unbetable in goal before they broke the deadlock.[/p][p]The first goal came with just over 14 minutes played, when the puck was dumped in behind the KooKoo net before[b] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sylvegard-emil/raotXp2S/"]Emil Sylvegard[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pavel-ondrej/xv8ZkadB/"]Ondrej Pavel[/a] used their strength to win possession and set it back for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/addamo-justin/McdgnKKB/"]Justin Addamo[/a] to finish.[/b][/p][p]But the advantage lasted less than a minute - [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gallo-vilmos/phBwxZfB/"]Vilmos Gallo[/a] weaved his way through the defenders in the Tappara zone before striking home a wonderful equaliser[/b] to send the sides in level after one period.[/p][p]The [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kookoo/ljjApDE3/"]Kouvola[/a] side were still finding Heljanko tough to beat in the second period, but the match turned in KooKoo's favour at the midpoint, when [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/suomi-jimi/lnR8RGW8/"]Jimi Suomi[/a] cut in from the left, deked past the defenders and struck high above the goaltender for another superb individual goal.[/b][/p][embed guid="a5f2f277-e5b6-4c8e-9eb9-8e56a5398428" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvEc4pEdCp8" social-type="youtube" /][p]Three more minutes were all KooKoo needed to open a two-goal lead, as [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/oden-joonas/UHjfprPI/"]Joonas Oden[/a] collected the puck at centre ice before playing it across for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/davidsson-marcus/AJtjdlPL/"]Marcus Davidsson[/a] to finish[/b] at close range.[/p][p]With 10 minutes left in the match, KooKoo survived a second Tappara powerplay, only to concede soon after getting back to full strength when [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/blichfeld-joachim/zD6cncwU/"]Joachim Blichfeld[/a]'s centre was diverted into the net by Addamo.[/b][/p][p]The Battle Axe then went for broke in search of an equaliser, pulling Heljanko, only for [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rooba-robert/GxRw6E28/"]Robert Rooba[/a] to chase a long clearance and cleverly knock the puck back for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/paajanen-otto/fke4uA6C/"]Otto Paajanen[/a] to tap into an empty net[/b] and secure KooKoo [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/kookoo-ljjApDE3/tappara-llrWVOwG/?mid=dr7vSRxA"]a 4-2 win[/a].[/p][p]KooKoo will host game two on 4th May, with Tappara coming to Kouvola in search of revenge.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/hockey/finland/liiga/"]Follow the Liiga Finals on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]