Panthers Tallinn 4-2 Riga
Panthers Tallinn beat Riga 4-2 in the Optibet Hockey League on Wednesday evening. The hosts took control early and never looked back, while the visitors struggled to find any rhythm after the opening exchanges.
I'll admit I backed the home side before kickoff. My confidence sat around 59 per cent — not a slam dunk, but enough to feel comfortable. And here's the thing, they delivered when it mattered. Riga simply couldn't match the intensity, especially in the middle periods.
The home side sits sixth after two games, while Riga drops to eighth following five outings. By then, the visitors had already lost four of their five matches and hadn't collected a single point. That kind of start doesn't leave much room for experimentation.
Panthers came into this after a heavy defeat to Riga Priisma last month, so there was motivation to respond. They've been inconsistent at times — losses to Liepāja and Kyiv Capitals — but this felt cleaner than their recent outings.
Riga's form has been frank. A 9-1 defeat to Mogu on Monday followed by a 3-0 loss to Kyiv Capitals left them in a difficult position. To be fair, they did manage a 4-3 win against Panx Vilnius back in September, but since then the pattern has been clear.
The result keeps both sides in the lower half of the table, though the gap between them is widening. Panthers have two games under their belt with room to improve, while Riga face a mounting challenge to get out of the doldrums.