Mountfield HK beat Sparta Prague 4:3 in the Extraliga on Tuesday evening. The result puts both sides on zero points after five games, each sitting in the lower half of the table. It was a match where the hosts took the points rather than the visitors, which is not how the opening rounds have gone for either club.
We had given Sparta Prague as the pick at 42 per cent confidence, but the game turned the other way. By then you can see why — the visitors looked disjointed in the final third and Mountfield's forwards stayed on the ice when it mattered. The prediction was simple enough, but the match didn't oblige.
Mountfield's recent run had been uneven. They beat Liberec White Tigers 5:2 and Pardubice Dynamo 5:3, but lost to Plzeň 2:1, Kometa Brno 3:1 and České Budějovice 2:0. Sparta Prague's form was similar — a 4:1 win over Litvínov and heavy defeats to Mladá-Boleslav 5:3 and Kladno 3:2. Both teams came in looking for stability.
What the scoreline doesn't show is how tight the middle period was. The visitors equalised twice and Mountfield had to work for their lead. And here's the thing, five goals across two sides doesn't mean a free-for-all — there were phases where neither side could clear their lines. The hosts saw the game out when it counted.
Both clubs remain on zero points from five matches. That tells you the league has been tight from the start, with results going whichever way the coin fell. A fourth straight loss would have been painful for Sparta Prague, but this time they at least took something from the match.
