Lukko beat Hämeenlinna 3:1 in the Liiga on Tuesday evening. The visitors took all three points at home ice, ending a run of mixed results on both sides. By then, the table told a familiar story — two teams sitting at the bottom of the standings after five matches.
We had given a home win at 47 per cent confidence, but the match went another way. Lukko never looked in danger of losing and ran out of legs only late on. Hämeenlinna's recent form — a 3:1 win over TPS but a 0:7 hammering from KalPa — made the outcome harder to read.
Both clubs sit on zero points after five games, though the standings say nothing about momentum. Hämeenlinna sit 13th, Lukko 14th, and the gap is measured in goal difference rather than points. The table goes out of the window in these games, but still, three losses in five is a tough start.
The visitors' last five results read 3:2, 1:2, 0:5, 7:2, 0:2 — a pattern of highs and lows that makes prediction tricky. Hämeenlinna's run included a 3:5 defeat to HIFK and a 4:1 win over Mikkelin Jukurit. Things came to a head on Tuesday, and Lukko were the ones who came out on top.
The result keeps both sides in the lower half, but for now the points remain the same. Lukko extend their unbeaten run at Hämeenlinna's expense, while the hosts will look to find consistency after a string of heavy defeats.
