Turbo line and winning streak: Lugano grande, as it hasn’t been for a long time

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With five victories in a row, Lugano traveled to Zurich on Friday evening for the ultimate test. And Luca Gianinazzi’s team passed with flags flying. They defeated the ZSC Lions 3:1.

Once again it is the parade line with Calvin Thürkauf (26) and the Canadian wings Daniel Carr (31) and Michael Joly (28) that makes the difference. Capitano Thürkauf escapes the careless Zurich defense like a steamroller and coolly pushes the puck between goalkeeper Hrubec’s legs to make it 1-1. Carr later makes it 3-1 on the power play.

Thürkauf, who scored eleven times in the last qualification, already has ten goals to his name. The new role with the C on the chest, which he took over from Mark Arcobello, seems to inspire the Nati forward with three NHL games in Columbus. The emotional, powerful fighter has never backed down from an opponent. He represents something on and off the ice and that is one of the reasons he was named captain.

Only Sörensen on the goals list, ahead of Thürkauf

Thürkauf played well when the team was still looking for balance and was defensively vulnerable. But now he is the most popular attacker in the league with Carr and Joly and is number 2 on the NL scorers list behind Fribourg’s Sörensen. Just like the two leaders, Carr also has 20 points to his name.

The Canadian has found his old strength again after health problems over the past two seasons. And Joly, who has been the star in the Finnish Liiga for the past two years at Hämeenlinna (top scorer and MVP 2022/23), is finding his way in Switzerland better and better after an injury at the start.

While the technically skilled Québecois uses a fine blade, Thürkauf and Carr are two bulls with a lot of penetrating power. “That’s probably why we fit together so well,” says Joly. “We complement each other very well.”

Granlund, Marco Müller and Guerra are still missing

In addition to the new dream striker, goalkeeper Niklas Schlegel stands out, who was in goal for four of the six victories in the successful series. He only conceded five goals and made some excellent saves.

Compared to the last game against the ZSC Lions (2:5) five weeks ago, Lugano has made enormous progress. The balance is good now. ‘I think we understand each other better now. We no longer try to force things and concentrate on defense first. We have enough talent to take advantage of our opportunities. At the beginning of the season we definitely wanted too much. Now we play easier,” Joly explains.

This Lugano is bigger than it has been in a long time. The Ticino team has not won the championship since 2006 and the last time they qualified for the final was six years ago next spring.

The Bianconeri are currently missing players such as top Finn Markus Granlund and that is why only five foreigners were on the ice against ZSC (goalkeeper Mikko Koskinen was a substitute), Nati striker Marco Müller and defender Samuel Guerra were injured. From this perspective, Lugano hasn’t even reached its full potential yet. “That’s the good thing for us,” Joly agrees. «I believe in our team. If we keep this up, you’ll never know…’

Source : Blick