BRATISLAVA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Third-ranked Slovan Bratislava claimed a surprisingly emphatic victory over current leader HC Kosice, winning the nation's greatest rivalry 6-1 in the Slovak ice hockey premier league Tipsport Liga here on Tuesday.
The 47th round matches have been scheduled on February 2nd, but the Bratislava-Kosice clash, the most anticipated one of the six games, was played in advance.
After a goalless first period and two excelling goalies, Bratislava took matters into their own hands, outscoring the visitors 3-1 in the second and adding three more in the final outing.
Thanks to six different scorers, the capital side ended Kosice's 16-game run without a defeat, as well as a three-game winning streak.
With the victory, Bratislava is now only two points behind the league leader, while the second-placed Banska Bystrica trails by a single point.
In the other fixture on Tuesday, MAC Budapest lost the all-Hungarian matchup 4-3 to HC Mikron Nove Zamky in overtime, as the audience was treated with a five-goal second period.
Budapest was leading 3-2 after the second buzzer with Brance Orban scoring one and assisting the other two goals for the home team, but the visitors from Nove Zamky, sitting one spot under Budapest in the table, sent the game into OT with a Vaclav Stupka goal late on.
Stupka also had his hands in the OT game-winner, assisting on Tomas Pospisil's golden goal and helping Nove Zamky complete the turnaround.
