Liiga Playoffs: SaiPa take bronze with clear victory over Ilves

[p]The result suggested that only one team was up for the battle for the consolation prize, but that didn't seem to be the case after 20 minutes, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/emil-kuusla/rqxZrdAp/"]Emil Kuusla[/a]'s second-minute opener for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/saipa/Q9sYH4O9/"]SaiPa[/a] was cancelled out seven minutes later by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/parikka-jarkko/O8XjRhWp/"]Jarrko Parikka[/a].[/p][p]The score remained 1-1 until the midpoint of the match, [b]but the second half was completely one-sided in favour of the home side[/b], who retook the lead 11 minutes into the second through [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nikkanen-henri/Yyf8s1nJ/"]Henri Nikkanen[/a], just seconds after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ilves-tampere/Oh5uGzDT/"]Ilves[/a] were back at full strength after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/quenneville-peter/QF0DaJci/"]Peter Quenneville[/a] was called for holding. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bau-samu/QHRTWg79/"]Samu Bau[/a] added a third three minutes later, then Kuusla scored his second of the game unassisted to put the Lappeenranta side 4-1 up going into the final 20 minutes.[/p][p]Tripping by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salomaki-miikka/vgk8rz7M/"]Miikka Salomaki[/a] fueled Ilves comeback hopes, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/torok-matic/KtWca625/"]Matic Torok[/a] pulled one back in the third minute of period three, but that was merely a hiccup in the SaiPa dominance, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kalapudas-antti/ruBynhXa/"]Antti Kalapudas[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/appelgren-niklas/jVeMiK53/"]Niklas Appelgren[/a] quickly added two more before [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tauslahti-miro/SQv3Cutf/"]Miro Tauslahti[/a] completed the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/ilves-Oh5uGzDT/saipa-Q9sYH4O9/?mid=lI3WTm8c"]7-2[/a] rout five minutes from time.[/b][/p][embed guid="c58c5896-8edb-4964-b09c-5c2065ae9ad3" url="https://x.com/smliiga/status/2049929350074499404" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]SaiPa add the bronze medals to the silvers they won last season, while a fourth-place finish is also one place down on last year for Ilves.[/b] With three goals and 12 assists, Kalapudas' 15 points is currently the highest total in the Liiga playoffs with the finals to come.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tappara/llrWVOwG/"]Tappara[/a] host [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kookoo/ljjApDE3/"]KooKoo[/a] in game one of the finals on Saturday 2nd April.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/hockey/finland/liiga/"]Follow the Liiga finals on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]