This much is clear: With the 3-2 home win on Saturday, the SCB has evened the series at 2-2, and there will definitely be a 6th game in Bern on Wednesday. If the Zugers want to take home ice advantage into the federal city, they have to win Monday’s home game. Otherwise, the SCB will have the chance to qualify for the semi-finals in front of their own fans. A possible decisive 7th game will again take place in Central Switzerland.

After the two victories with a total score of 10:2 (4:1 Bern, 6:1 in Zug), the EVZ would have been expected to make a preliminary decision in their favor at the weekend. But what happened was a role reversal: As unusually passive as the SCB had been in Zug, the Zugers played inexplicably reserved two days later in Bern. With their best playoff performance, this time the Bernese successfully set the scene. The ratio of shots on goal of 33:20 in favor of the winners corresponded to the action on the ice. This was despite the fact that the Bernese were without regular players Marco Lehmann (illness) and Samuel Kreis (injury) in addition to the suspended Patrik Nemeth.

The difference: Even with the more than average performance, the Zug team had a chance of overtime until the last second. But SCB keeper Philip Wüthrich, who was guarding the box for Adam Reideborn, could not be beaten after the third power play goal of the opponent with a total of 14 overtime opportunities and the fourth personal playoff goal of Dario Simion. The Ticino native in Zug’s service (4 goals/1 assist) deservedly wears the EVZ top scorer’s gold helmet today. He is one of seven players who, after four playoff rounds, are directly behind Chris DiDomenico (6 points) with 5 points. Among them is Fabrice Herzog (1 goal/4 assists), a second Zug player. The fact that the visitors were able to hope for overtime until the final buzzer was also thanks to Leonardo Genoni. The seven-time champion kept his cool during Bern’s onslaught and even came off the ice with a slightly better save percentage (90.91%) than Philip Wüthrich (90%).

In addition to Grégory Hofmann, Brian O’Neill and Elia Riva, the EVZ also had to do without the injured Reto Suri on Saturday, who should be back on the ice in the playoffs. Defenseman Nico Gross, who has been suspended for tonight’s game for a cross-check against Benjamin Baumgartner, will not play. Patrik Nemeth will serve his second and final suspension in Zug. The Swedish defenseman was suspended for two games for a foul against Andreas Eder (slew footing and stick end penalty). Jan Kovar, who was suspended for Thursday’s 6-1 loss in Bern, made his comeback.

The SCB’s golden helmet is worn by Thierry Bader, who was one of Bern’s most conspicuous players on Saturday with two assists and two shots on goal (not for the first time). The ten players with four points also include Zug’s Lukas Bengtsson and Lino Martschini (1 goal/3 assists each).