Kloten wins the play-in first leg in Ambri-Piotta 5:4 and gives itself a good option to qualify for the play-offs. However, the win could have been even higher.
08.03.2025, 22:42
08.03.2025, 23:35
SDA
In the end, Kloten unexpectedly managed to snatch victory after almost carelessly letting it slip away. Axel Simic scored 20 seconds before the end in overtime. When Ambri's goalie Gilles Senn had no real chance of defending without a stick. However, the Zurich team must take themselves to task for not having practically decided the duel for the last playoff spot before Monday's second leg in Kloten.
Zurich had led 4:1 after a desolate middle third by Ambri, but captain Daniele Grassi equalized with a deflection six minutes before the end. Nevertheless, Kloten managed their first win in the fourth season duel against Ambri.
Disastrous middle third from Ambri
The momentum should have been on Ambri-Piotta's side. They had pulled their heads out of the noose in the first round of the play-in against Rapperswil-Jona in extremis, while Kloten, the visually better team, had lost to the SCL Tigers. Ambri took the lead after just 16 seconds of the middle third through its outstanding defenseman Tim Heed - then everything came crashing down out of the blue.
Fifteen minutes later, it was Kloten who led 4:1. Pontus Aberg, Bernd Wolf and Daniel Audette scored twice far too easily. The Ticino team ran into counterattacks like a junior team. The middle zone became a kind of white spot in which the visitors were free to do as they pleased. By the second intermission, Kloten, who had only just missed out on direct playoff qualification in seventh place, still had one and a half legs in the playoffs.
Several tricky decisions
Ambri, for its part, managed a miraculous and hardly expected turnaround. With a double strike in the 45th and 47th minutes, foreign stars Jesse Virtanen and Dominik Kubalik reduced the deficit to 3:4, with the Finnish defenseman at least partially making up for his unusual weaknesses in conceding goals. And with Kubalik's goal, the Biancoblu had the luck that had been missing before. The goal counted even though the stick was very high. Conversely, Kloten's third goal was highly suspected of being offside and the home team complained in vain about a foul on Chris DiDomenico for the fourth.
We can now look forward to another goal spectacle in the second leg on Monday. Both teams are anything but defensively solid.
Telegram:
Ambri-Piotta - Kloten 4:5 (0:0, 1:4, 3:1)
6775 spectators. - SR Tscherrig/Wiegand, Steenstra (CAN)/Duc. - Goals: 21st (20:16) Heed (Zgraggen, DiDomenico) 1:0. 22nd (21:06) Aberg (Grégoire) 1:1. 23rd Wolf 1:2. 28th Aberg (Ramel) 1:3. 37th Audette (Ojamäki) 1:4. 45th Virtanen (DiDomenico) 2:4. 47. Kubalik (Heed) 3:4. 55. Grassi (Zgraggen, Heed) 4:4. 60. (59:40) Simic (Aberg/powerplay goal) 4:5. - Penalties: 6 times 2 minutes against Ambri-Piotta, 4 times 2 minutes against Kloten. - PostFinance top scorers: Kubalik; Ojamäki.
Ambri-Piotta: Juvonen (37. Senn); Heed, Zgraggen; Virtanen, Terraneo; Wüthrich, Isacco Dotti; Zaccheo Dotti; DiDomenico, Maillet, Kubalik; Bürgler, Heim, Müller; Pestoni, Landry, De Luca; Grassi, Kostner, Zwerger; Douay.
Kloten: Waeber; Niku, Profico; Grégoire, Wolf; Sataric, Steve Kellenberger; Sidler; Ojamäki, Morley, Audette; Aberg, Ramel, Schreiber; Simic, Schäppi, Meyer; Meier, Diem, Weibel; Smirnovs.
Remarks: Ambri-Piotta without Curran (injured), Kloten without Steiner (injured), Aebi, Cuesta Flores, Deussen , Keller (all ) and Hawryluk (supernumerary foreigner).
