Liiga Playoffs: Assat and Ilves a win from semi-finals after game five triumphs

[p]Top two seeds [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tappara/llrWVOwG/"]Tappara[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kookoo/ljjApDE3/"]KooKoo[/a] booked their passage to the semi-finals 24 hours earlier, but the third seeds, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/saipa/Q9sYH4O9/"]SaiPa[/a], are under threat of missing out after going down 5-1 at home to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/assat-pori/I9wm5xTA/"]Assat[/a].[/p][p]Assat had already secured one away win earlier in the series, and the belief was clearly with the side early on in Lappeenranta - there were six minutes on the clock when[b] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/knihti-feetu/v5GT48FS/"]Feetu Knihti[/a] stole the puck in the attacking zone and laid it on a plate for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/talaja-roope/z7ZE7YlC/"]Roope Talaja[/a] to finish with aplomb.[/b][/p][p]1-0 was how things stayed until the fourth minute of the second period when the same two players combined - [b]Knihti took control from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nurmi-petteri/hlOYl02C/"]Petteri Nurmi[/a] at centre ice and played another perfect pass for Talaja to slot home.[/b][/p][p]The home side had hope four minutes later when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kramer-brian/8GEHAPxJ/"]Brian Kramer[/a]'s shot from the blue line flew in to halve the deficit, but the lead was back to two at the midpoint, [b]when the Pori side worked the puck well around the stretched defence and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tiivola-peter/0U8eTa5q/"]Peter Tiivola[/a] applied the finish[/b].[/p][p]It was 4-1 with still over four minutes of the second period to play, after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/noiva-nestor/Aq9FOMlr/"]Nestor Noiva[/a] was played through, [b]and despite his shot being well saved, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/karhunen-tomi/dfRkDiBK/"]Tomi Karhunen[/a] could do nothing to prevent [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/juhola-patrik/IV7HT9uC/"]Patrik Juhola[/a] tucking away the rebound.[/b][/p][p]SaiPa had the better of the shot count in the final period, but any comeback ambitions were ended with just under eight minutes to play, [b]when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jarvinen-jan-mikael/pbW64xxp/"]Jan Mikael Jarvinen[/a] finished in style to make it [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/assat-I9wm5xTA/saipa-Q9sYH4O9/?mid=MRoqIMDl"]5-1[/a] after SaiPa again coughed up possession.[/b][/p][p]Last season's runners-up must now win two in a row to reach the semi-finals. Game six will be Assat's chance to win the series in front of their home fans on Saturday 11th April.[/p][embed guid="6ff84837-3487-4b7d-b027-2c160172af6a" url="https://x.com/PorinAssat/status/2041917490310094897" social-type="twitter" /][p]Saturday 11th, albeit on the road, will also be [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ilves-tampere/Oh5uGzDT/"]Ilves[/a]' first of two opportunities to seal their place in the semi-finals, after they won [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/ilves-Oh5uGzDT/kalpa-tMuMK6vi/?mid=r1vFkGZr"]2-1[/a] at home to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kalpak-anna/b9WQEgxE/"]KalPa[/a] to go 3-2 ahead and end their two-game losing run.[/p][p]Neither side took advantage of powerplays in a scoreless first period, but KalPa certainly took their chance four minutes into the second, [b]as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lappalainen-lasse/02YWxvXs/"]Lasse Lappalainen[/a]'s centre was deflected in by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hartikainen-teemu/l2suf0n9/"]Teemu Hartikainen[/a].[/b][/p][p]For a long time, that looked like it was going to be enough for the Kuopio side, until 33 seconds of regulation time to play. [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bjorkqvist-kasper/QcJ1dum9/"]Kasper Bjorkqvist[/a] had an effort saved, before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kucerik-radek/lSb0g1xL/"]Radek Kucerik[/a] did well to stop the attempted clearance, keep his composure and fire the equaliser past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/boyko-talyn/GGYjZFGA/"]Talyn Boyko[/a].[/b][/p][p]Kucerik's late heroics looked to be in vain when they were guilty of having too many men on the ice over 18 minutes into overtime, [b]only for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jasek-lukas/0OkXrem5/"]Lukas Jasek[/a] to intercept the puck at centre ice, race away from the scrambling KalPa defence and slot home the winning goal while shorthanded.[/b][/p][p]The reigning champions must now win twice in succession to maintain hopes of retaining the Liiga title.[/p][embed guid="1d2bf8d9-f8c0-4b9c-b522-ead5528dbae3" url="https://x.com/smliiga/status/2041947551272738953" social-type="twitter" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/hockey/finland/liiga/"]Follow the Liiga playoffs on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]