After the defeat in Laibach, the next top-class game awaits the Steinbach Black Wings tomorrow. The FTC Telekom Budapest is a strong opponent visiting the Untere Donaulände, who have really warmed up in the last few games.
The opponent
After the 1:4 in Laibach, the next important duel is tomorrow evening against a direct competitor in the fight for the pre-playoff places. FTC Telekom Budapest is currently one point ahead of the Upper Austrians in eighth place. The Hungarians recently had a six-game losing streak from which they were only able to take one point against the Vienna Capitals. However, in the last two games against the Pioneers and the Innsbrucker Haie, head coach Timo Saarikoski’s team got back on the road to success. They scored a total of eleven goals, but also conceded seven goals, a pattern that runs through their entire season. With 127 goals conceded, the FTC has the third weakest defense in the league. This compares to 98 goals scored, also in the lower range of the statistics.
Things aren’t going well for the Hungarians in the power play either: with an efficiency of 13.04%, they are in second-to-last place. Nevertheless, it is not without reason that they are in the middle of the table and were able to achieve important victories against Graz and Pustertal, among others. Another interesting look at the statistics concerns the overtime records: Both Budapest and Linz have already had to go into overtime seven times this season. The Steinbach Black Wings won six of these overtimes, while Budapest lost six. The direct duels so far have been evenly matched. In Budapest, the hosts narrowly prevailed 3-2, while Linz took revenge in the home game with a 3-1, with Travis Barron being involved in all three goals. Braeden Shaw scored a brace in the first leg in Hungary. The Canadian currently leads his team’s internal scoring list with 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists). Bence Balizs (20 games) and Kristóf Nagy (17 games) alternate between the posts.
Locker room update
The Upper Austrians never really found their game against Laibach, partly due to several penalties. On the other hand, the return of Gerd Kragl and Aljaz Predan, who returned to head coach Philipp Lukas’ line-up, was pleasing. Top scorer Graham Knott, who was absent due to illness, will also return to the squad tomorrow. However, Emil Romig’s use is questionable due to illness.
The Linzers will travel to the wolves in Pustertal on Friday before meeting the record champions from Klagenfurt on Sunday.
blackwings.at Image: BWL/Eisenbauer
“), i.text = “window._taboola = window._taboola || ();_taboola.push({mode:’alternating-thumbnails-a’, container:’taboola-below-article-thumbnails’, placement:’below-article’, target_type: ‘mix’});”, n.appendChild(l), n.appendChild(i), e(n, t) } Array.prototype.filter || (Array.prototype.filter = function(e, t) { if (“function” != typeof e) throw TypeError(); let n = (); for (let l = 0, i = this.length >>> 0; l < i; l += 1) if (l in this) { let r = this(l); e.call(t, r, l, this) && n.push(r) } return n }), window.insertAfter = e, window.getElementByXPath = t, window.injectWidgetByXpath = function e(l) { let i = t(l) ||. document.getElementById("tbdefault"); i && n(i) }, window.injectWidgetByMarker = function e
