Liiga roundup: Two-goal Soderlund seals huge win for KalPa in race for fourth

[p]Following a 10-1 thumping at the hands of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tappara/llrWVOwG/"]Tappara[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kalpa-kuopio/tMuMK6vi/"]KalPa[/a] bounced back well on Wednesday with a comfortable win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/vaasan-sport/Qqy8aCTd/"]Vaasan Sport[/a] that saw them edge closer to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/jyp-jyvaskyla/YVjXBEzi/"]JYP[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lukko-rauman/hdqQJQgc/"]Lukko[/a], who could only pick up two-point victories.[/p][p]Another win in regulation tonight would see the champions draw level on points with JYP in fourth, but a long injury list was really going to challenge their strength in depth going into a second away match in 24 hours.[/p][p][b]That seemed to be the case five minutes in, when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/assat-pori/I9wm5xTA/"]Assat[/a] broke from their own zone with great work between [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/riihinen-petteri/juTIKy7a/"]Petteri Riihinen[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/juhola-patrik/IV7HT9uC/"]Patrik Juhola[/a], who played the puck across for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/noiva-nestor/Aq9FOMlr/"]Nestor Noiva[/a] to hammer into the net.[/b][/p][embed guid="35adf64e-9447-44e4-966d-d721e8785453" url="https://x.com/PorinAssat/status/2029599362414723328" social-type="twitter" /][p]But it took less than two more minutes for the visitors to click into gear - [b]what looked like a simple clearance from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ketola-juuso/Qy2pH29F/"]Juuso Ketola[/a] was actually an accurate pass right through the middle to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/soderlund-tim/zw8YUIgs/"]Tim Soderlund[/a], who skated away from the Assat defence and drilled in the equaliser.[/b][/p][p]Neither side could profit from powerplays either side of the 20-minute mark, but what looked to be a key third goal of the game arrived 12 minutes into the second period, and it was the home side who scored it.[/p][p]Pressure from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jarvinen-jan-mikael/pbW64xxp/"]Jan-Mikael Jarvinen[/a] forced KalPa to cough up possession behind their own net, [b]and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kostilainen-sakari/2NsMbwkE/"]Sakari Kostilainen[/a] was perfectly placed to grab the loose puck and tuck it away to put the Aces ahead again.[/b][/p][p]The Pori side looked to be giving KalPa every chance of getting back into it with two early penalties in the third period, [b]but the title-holders finally drew level less than seven minutes from time when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lantta-jaakko/WApzRxEL/"]Jaakko Lantta[/a] teed up [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruotsalainen-ville/CSBis6gn/"]Ville Ruotsalainen[/a].[/b][/p][p]And in the final minute, the Kuopio side earned all three points, [b]as Ruotsalainen played the puck deep into the Assat zone for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/saarelainen-joona/Mufnzbfi/"]Joona Saarelainen[/a] to collect and play across goal for Soderlund to bury with only 18 seconds to play.[/b][/p][embed guid="72b9285c-4d93-45c5-a4a8-29fb5a967a85" url="https://x.com/smliiga/status/2029632759107350598" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]That secured a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/assat-I9wm5xTA/kalpa-tMuMK6vi/?mid=0faGT8nT"]3-2[/a] win for KalPa, who go fourth, ahead of JYP on head-to-head record, though the Jyvaskyla still have six regular season games left, compared to KalPa's four.[/b] Assat remain eighth after successive defeats, as their very slim top four chances effectively ended this evening.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/hockey/finland/liiga/"]Check out the latest Liiga standings on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]