KHL Medveščak Vying For Top Seed

KHL Medveščak were unable to hang on for the win on Sunday, despite scoring two first period goals.

Nate Perkovich got the goal scoring started immediately after the opening face off. Ten minutes later, Francois Bouchard doubled the lead, but EHC Liwest Black Wings Linz answered right back a minute later.

Perkovich would go on to score his second of the game to go ahead 3-1, and Brandon Buck scored to make it 4-2 in the second period. The team looked to be heading to victory, but two unanswered goals brought the game to overtime, and a third was put in to win it for the visitors.

Over 12,000 spectators enjoyed the nearly sold out match at Arena Zagreb, but were disappointed to see their team leave with only one point instead of the full two.

The EBEL preliminary seeding matches have begun and determine the seeding of the eight teams that enter the playoffs. The Bears ended the regular season in second place, and now take part in a “mini tournament” with the five of the other top six teams before starting the proper playoff games.

The Bears currently sit tied for second in the placement rounds of the playoff system with six points. The winner of the placement round picks and opponent from place 5 to 8, while the second placed team from the placement round picks one of the other three teams from place 5 to 8. The third placed team picks one of the last two teams from place 5 to 8. The first four teams of the placement round start with a home game in the playoffs (H/A/H/A/…).  The seventh and eighth seeds will come from the qualification group, which consists of the bottom six teams, who are all vying to be the top two in their group to advance to the playoffs, which begin on February 24. The teams then compete in a seven game series, with the winners advancing to to the quarter finals, similar to the NHL playoff system.

The Bears’ next game will be on Tuesday against Graz 99’ers and can be watched here live and for free at 1:15 pm EST.

KHL MEDVEŠČAK: Kristan, Ouzas, Letang, Bozic, Miller, Buck, Perkovich, MacAulay, Martinović, Greentree, Brine, Bouchard, Sertich, Vedlin, Fraser, Yelovich, Kostović, Šijan, Mikulić, Koren, Čurčić.

EHC LIWEST BLACK WINGS LINZ: Leneveu, Hirn, MacDonald, Hedlund, Lebler, Ouellette, Irmen, Mitterdorfer, Dorion, Baumgartner, Oberkofler, Engelhardt, R. Lukas, Murphy, Grabher Meier, P. Lukas, Leahy, Mayr, Scholz, Spannring, Mairitsch, Wolf.

PENALTIES: Medveščak 9, Linz 11.

SHOTS ON GOAL: Medveščak 26, Linz 36.

*Zach Gilfix also contributed to this article