Two Zurich teams searching for their form and two Bernese teams celebrating important victories in the fight for the division. These are the facts of the full round in the National League on Valentine's Day.
14.02.2025, 23:18
14.02.2025, 23:31
SDA
Lausanne extends Kloten's negative streak
Kloten are in danger of missing out on direct qualification for the play-offs in the final spurt of the qualifying round. The Zurich lowlanders were also unable to halt their losing streak in their home game against leaders Lausanne and went off the ice with a 3-1 defeat for the fifth time in a row. Mischa Ramel gave Kloten the lead in the 7th minute, but Lausanne struck back immediately and managed to turn the game around before the first break with goals from Lauri Pajuniemi and Damien Riat. The 2:1 winning goal by Riat was scored on the power play.
Sörensen lets Gottéron celebrate
Zurich's second team, the ZSC Lions, is also going through a difficult phase at the moment. The champions, who are currently completing a mammoth program, made up a 0:2 deficit in their home game against Fribourg-Gottéron, but nevertheless left the ice as losers. After Vinzenz Rohrer tied the Lions 2-2 in the 48th minute to send the game into overtime, Marcus Sörensen secured the extra point for Fribourg with his second goal of the match. Gottéron thus also scored in the 15th championship game under coach Lars Leuenberger.
Zug's intermediate spurt
In the duel between Zug and the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, the home team came off the ice victorious for the fourth time this season. Zug laid the foundation for their 6:1 victory with a spurt towards the end of the first period. Niklas Hansson, Nando Eggenberger and Lino Martschini scored within 81 seconds to turn a 0:1 deficit into a 3:1 lead. The Lakers, who were prone to defensive errors, no longer showed much sign of the initial upswing following the change of coach. The team from St. Gallen have just one win from their last eight games.
HCD with rare away win
One day after announcing his retirement at the end of the season, Andres Ambühl and HC Davos were able to celebrate winning three points. Although the captain did not score in the 5-2 win at bottom-of-the-table Ajoie, he saw his team put the game away with a two-goal performance by the Swede Simon Ryfors (25th/27th) at the start of the middle third. It was a rare away win for HCD: the record champions have only won two of their last eight games away from home.
Lugano given a cold shower by Bern
SC Bern also managed to score again on home ice after their last four away defeats - against Lugano of all teams. The Ticino side, who had previously won five in a row against the SCB, were given a cold shower by the Bernese shortly before the end of the game. After Marco Müller carelessly lost the puck in offense, the Swedish defender Patrick Nemeth scored the 2:1 for the visitors 24 seconds before the final buzzer. A little later, Waltteri Merelä scored into an empty net to make the final score 3:1. After their fifth defeat in the last six games, Lugano are threatened with a playoff spot.
Tigers win in the playoff battle
What Lugano couldn't do against SCB, the SCL Tigers managed against Ambri-Piotta: The Emmental team also emerged victorious in their fourth duel with the Leventines this season. In the Ilfishalle, which was sold out for the tenth time in the current championship, the score was 3:1 for the Langnau team after 60 minutes. Aleksi Saarela and Noah Meier turned the game around with their power-play goals in the middle third. Prior to that, Ambri's top scorer Dominik Kubalik had put the visitors ahead with his 25th goal of the season. With their third win in a row, the Tigers took an important step towards at least being able to take part in the play-in.
Biel thanks to two double goal scorers
The same applies to Biel, who moved up to 9th place at the expense of Ambri-Piotta with a spectacular 7:4 home win against Servette. The Seelanders took the lead after just 16 seconds through Aleksi Heponiemi. The Finn (in the opening period) and the American Anthony Greco (in the final period) both scored twice for Biel. Servette, who are fighting to avoid missing out on the play-offs again, suffered a bitter setback in the fight for the play-offs after two recent victories.
