Flops in Biel and Ambri: cost goalkeeper Koskinen Lugano the play-offs?

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Mikko Koskinen (35) can still drive opponents to despair on a good day. But he hasn’t had any good days lately. In the play-in first leg against Ambri, he must be happy that his teammates can overcome a 4-0 defeat and achieve a draw.

The Finn looks at his worst when he lets Tim Heed’s shot slip between his legs 25 seconds after the 0-1 lead. But he also leaves an unfortunate impression with the high shots of Jakob Lilja (0:1) and Inti Pestoni (0:4) and does not make use of his height of 2.01 meters.

Koskinen had only ruined the play-ins for the Bianconeri when he scored two goals with glaring errors in the penultimate round in Biel.

The fact that Koskinen is in goal for Lugano is because Niklas Schlegel (29) was diagnosed with a knee injury on January 24 with an expected downtime of approximately two months and Thibaut Fatton (22) has proven that he can be an alternative so far. guilty. In the weeks following Schlegel’s failure, Koskinen showed good performances several times before recently dropping significantly.

Koskinen has known since November that he had to go

We heard from Ticino that Schlegel was already back on the ice. It is not known when the player from Zurich will be able to return to action. But all help may come too late. Because with Koskinen, Lugano is in danger of missing the play-offs, even though they would get a rematch against Biel or Servette next week if they lost at home to Ambri on Saturday.

The club made it clear in November that Koskinen no longer had a future at HC Lugano when they made the signing of Joren van Pottelberghe (26) official. With Biel and Schlegel’s replacement goalkeeper, they can “count on a solid goalkeeping pair with a Swiss passport,” said sporting director Hnat Domenichelli. “We have informed Koskinen about our strategy for the coming seasons and have therefore not made him an offer to extend his expiring contract. Mikko knows the market mechanisms in Switzerland and understands that we have to plan far enough in advance. He will also play an important role in the team this season.” In Lugano, people currently wish that the impulsive Finn would play a smaller role.

Koskinen, who became KHL champion with SKA St. Petersburg in 2015 and 2017 and played in the NHL with the New York Islanders and the Edmonton Oilers, drove Friborg to despair in the pre-play-offs last year and then retired after a bad start – We also defeated Servette well in the quarter-finals.

Source : Blick