Kosice leapfrog Banska Bystrica in Slovak hockey league

Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-19 17:07:13|Editor: zh
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BRATISLAVA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kosice Hockey Club defeated Banska Bystrica 4-2 in the standout match of the 31st round of Slovakia's Tipsport Liga on Wednesday, taking second place from last season's champion in the process.

Banska Bystrica's Finnish forward Joona Jaaskelainen answered Marcel Hascak's two opening goals with two of his own but Kosice won the tie in the last period and closed the game with an empty-netter, Hascak assisting on both of them and helping Kosice secure its seventh consecutive victory.

Kosice is now only four points behind leaders Bratislava, after the capital side surprisingly lost 3-2 to Miskolc, one of the two Hungarian teams playing in the Slovak league.

Bratislava took the lead twice but the visitors managed to reply each time, and crowned their efforts in the last minute of the game with Francis Beauvillier scoring the winner on a power-play. Miskolc move up one spot in the rankings to sixth.

Poprad won its eighth consecutive Tipsport Liga match, crushing Michalovce 8-2 and moving up to fourth spot in the rankings. Forward Lukas Handlovsky finished the night with a memorable hat-trick.

After winning five straight games in November, Zvolen remains in a downward spiral, losing its fifth consecutive match 5-2 to Budapest, the other Hungarian team in the league.

Zvolen opened the scoring early in the game but the home side answered with three of their own and kept hold of the lead until the final siren. Zvolen drops from from sixth to seventh in the table.

Liptovsky Mikulas stays bottom of the rankings after losing its third games in a row, losing 2-1 to Nitra. All the goals were scored in the second period, as Nitra responded to the visitors' opener with two of its own, moving up one spot in the rankings to eighth place as a result.

Trencin rallied in Nove Zamky after being down by two in the second period, tipping the scales thanks to two goals in the final moments and sealing a 4-3 victory in the last minute of OT, with Trencin's veteran defenseman Tomas Starosta scoring the winner against the league's second-bottom side.

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