EHC Red Bull Munich is in the semi-finals of the Champions Hockey League (CHL) for the second time in its club history. On Tuesday evening he won the quarter-final second leg against Finnish champions Lukko Rauma 2-1 after extra time, the first leg in Finland ended 2-2. In the round of the last four, the EHC will meet a Finnish team again: Tappara Tampere (first leg January 4/5, second leg January 11/12).
In the domestic league, things had not run smoothly for the EHC recently. Last weekend, after two defeats with a total of eleven goals conceded, he lost the championship lead to Eisbären Berlin. In the CHL, on the other hand, things are going well for the Munich team, although they mostly trailed opponents and targets in the starting third. Again and again, the impressive running guests settled in the EHC third, but failed to convert their territorial dominance into great opportunities.
For their part, Munich had only two chances to score in the first 20 minutes, but they had it all: Both Yasin Ehliz (8th) and Frank Mauer (15th) appeared alone in front of Lukko goalkeeper Lassi Lehtinen after counterattacks, but shot him each on. In the middle third the tide turned. Now the EHC constricted the Finns in their third and created opportunities. The largest was awarded by Ben Smith, who was free at the rear post, after a great pass from Zach Redmond (31st). Then goals were also scored: Sebastian Repo made it 1-0 for Rauma (33rd), Frederik Tiffels – also after a nice individual action – the 1-1 (39th). In the final third, Munich had several good opportunities, Maximilian Kastner hit the crossbar (46th). The decision in the hard-fought game was not made until extra time, Justin Schütz pushed the disc over the line for the much-acclaimed winner.