After Monday’s 6-2 home win, EVZ can clinch the quarter-final series against SC Bern with another victory in the Swiss capital with a 4-2 win. With 4-2 wins like the last playoff meeting in the first round of Zug’s record-breaking 2020-21 season (119 points in qualifying). Back then, EVZ also won game number 6 in Bern – Jérôme Bachofner scored the only goal of the game in the 38th minute. If the Bernese win on Wednesday, there will be a showdown on Easter Saturday with the seventh and deciding game in the BOSSARD Arena.

The two big questions before the next game: What face will the EVZ show? The face from the 4:1 win in Bern and the two clear victories (6:1 and 6:2) in front of the home crowd? Or the one from the second away game in Bern, when Zug remained surprisingly passive and deservedly lost 2:3? EVZ Head Coach Dan Tangnes was certainly satisfied on Monday and convinced that his team will deliver a better performance than in their last outing at SCB: “We were much more compact as a team than on Saturday, had more pressure on the ice, ran more and didn’t give our opponents much space. We want to make everything clear on Wednesday in Bern!”

The second big question that was not only on the minds of the media on Monday: Which goalie will SCB start the third quarter-final home game against EVZ? Is it Philip Wüthrich, who was surprisingly replaced by Fabrice Herzog after 17:30 minutes and the 2:0 on Monday, although he stood between the posts in the 3:2 win on Saturday and was blameless for the first two Zug goals on Monday? Is it Adam Reideborn, who had to give way to Philip Wüthrich after 26:41 minutes and the third goal against in the 6:1 EVZ home win? “We didn’t get into the game the way we wanted to, I wanted to give the whole squad new impetus. A goalie change is always a difficult thing and this time it wasn’t directed at Wüthrich,” said SCB head coach Jussi Tapola, who took sole responsibility for the decision. Meanwhile, the home side could once again rely on Leonardo Genoni, who has a save percentage of 93.17% after five playoff games. Adam Reideborn (84.78) and Philip Wüthrich (83.33) are below 90 %.

Samuel Kreis, who missed Saturday’s 3-2 home win due to injury and returned to the line-up on Monday, as did Marco Lehmann, who was recently reported ill, nevertheless firmly expects a Game 7: “We found the right answer to the 6-1 loss in Zug and will also win on Wednesday. The 6:2 is too high, we weren’t dominated like we were at 6:1.” However, the former Zug defender (2021-23) admitted that the victory of his former clubmates was in order. “We started well and also had chances, but the first goal we conceded sapped our energy. EVZ had an answer for everything.”

For Zug, not only the new top scorer Lino Martschini (2 goals/5 assists) posted three scoring points on Monday, but also the active Andreas Wingerli and the hitherto hapless captain Jan Kovar. Reto Suri returned to the team on his 35th birthday, and Nico Gross, who was suspended for one game, is also eligible to play again on Wednesday in Bern. Patrik Nemeth has served his two-game suspension for Bern. The Swedish defenseman is available again for Jussi Tapola.