BRATISLAVA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- A penalty shootout was needed to determine second-ranked Banska Bystrica's 2-1 win over third place Kosice in the most attractive battle of the 44th round of matches in Slovakia's premier ice hockey league on Sunday.
Leaders Slovan Bratislava had to rally against eighth-placed Miskolc on home ice, with the top three teams securing their spots in the play-off quarterfinals scheduled for March 18.
The clash between Banska Bystrica and Kosice did not produce many goals but offered a thrilling finale. After both teams scored only once in regulation time, an evenly balanced contest had to be decided in a shootout.
The visitors had the chance to end their negative series of four defeats in a row, but last season's champions Banska Bystrica prevailed, with Canadian left-winger Jordan Hickmott scoring the game-winner in the sixth round of penalty shots.
Bratislava stretched their lead at the top to four points after a meager 2-1 victory over Miskolc, one of two Hungarian teams playing in the Slovak league.
It took the home team more than 20 minutes to answer their opponents' opening goal, but two minutes after that, Marek Sloboda scored what proved to be the winning goal for Slovan.
In a derby match between two teams located in the east of the country, Michalovce managed to snap Poprad's six-game winning streak in front of a sell-out crowd.
After an even first period with each team scoring one goal apiece, Michalovce center Eduard Simun decided the outcome with his second goal this season to keep the league newcomers within touching distance of the top half.
Trencin now trail Poprad by just two points after defeating Nove Zamky 2-1. The away side proved a worthy opponent and pushed the match into overtime, but Lukas Paukovcek's goal just two seconds before the end of overtime on a powerplay proved decisive.
Elsewhere, managerless Nitra defeated bottom side Liptovsky Mikulas 2-0 away from home, moving up one spot in the rankings to eighth place, only a single point behind Michalovce.
Fans in Zvolen were treated to a whopping 14-goal game, with their team prevailing 8-6 over visitors Budapest.
Both teams went into the final stretch level at 4-4, but Zvolen opened the floodgates early on and finished strong with seven different shooters and only Bruno Mraz scoring twice. For the visitors, Canadian forward Chris Langkow finished the night with a hat-trick.
