Liiga Playoffs: Ilves take the lead in quarter-final series against champions KalPa

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kalpa-kuopio/tMuMK6vi/"]KalPa[/a] needed all five games to finally see off [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ifk-helsinki/Ige43GcN/"]IFK Helsinki[/a] in the wildcard round, and the fresher legs of the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ilves-tampere/Oh5uGzDT/"]Ilves[/a] players looked to be making all the difference in the opening period.[/p][p]Midway through the first 20 minutes, [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/borg-erik/Odajpn3B/"]Erik Borg[/a] won a scrappy face-off on the left side of the attacking zone despite hitting the deck, but once he regained his footing, he blasted the puck past the goaltender[/b] to score unassisted.[/p][p]Less than a minute later it was 2-0 - [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/johansson-simon/IZ62cQAC/"]Simon Johansson[/a] fired the puck low from the right wing, and waiting in front of the net was [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/quenneville-peter/QF0DaJci/"]Peter Quenneville[/a] who coolly diverted it goalwards to beat [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/boyko-talyn/GGYjZFGA/"]Talyn Boyko[/a] again.[/b][/p][embed guid="b1c91a97-a9b1-435c-aa8f-4b908af2cb2c" url="https://x.com/smliiga/status/2038261801217843215" social-type="twitter" /][p]But KalPa managed to stop the rot and got themselves back into the match at the halfway point, [b]when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/saarelainen-joona/Mufnzbfi/"]Joona Saarelainen[/a] cleverly shovelled the puck on to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kapanen-konsta/Yq9ApiFh/"]Konsta Kapanen[/a], who had space to pick his spot.[/b][/p][p]The visitors pushed for a late equaliser, [b]only for the Lynx to finally wrap up the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/ilves-Oh5uGzDT/kalpa-tMuMK6vi/?mid=AZ43odWs"]3-1[/a] win with a minute to play,[/b] [b]as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mantykivi-matias/l2eFpoRg/"]Matias Mantykivi[/a] found the empty net[/b]. KalPa will have the chance to draw level in the series when the two meet in Kuopio for game two on 31st March.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/hockey/finland/liiga/"]Follow every match of the Liiga playoffs on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]