BRATISLAVA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Ice hockey club Slovan Bratislava remains the undisputed Slovak Tipos Extraliga leader after winning its fifth consecutive fixture on Sunday, edging out HC Kosice in the traditional West-East derby 3-2.
Visiting forward Michal Chovan opened the score in the capital city, but Slovan Bratislava answered with three consecutive goals of their own to overturn the derby between the two largest towns from opposite ends of the country.
Kosice cut the deficit to one early in the final period but failed to push the game into overtime, ending its series of three wins in a row.
"We lost a couple of players during the game due to injuries and were forced to improvise our formations. We finished the game with five defenseman and eight forwards. We are happy about the streak; the morale is always high when we win," stated Slovan coach Robert Doeme.
In the battle of the two Duklas, Trencin showed no mercy to Michalovce with a 5-1 win, as the visitors were up 2-0 going into the final period after Radoslav Tybor scored his 100th Extraliga goal.
Trencin then punished the home team's tactics of pulling the goalie with three more shorthanded goals, two by the 21-year-old forward Jakub Minarik, to put the game away.
Also, on Sunday, HK Nitra suffered the worst defeat of the season, getting overpowered by HKM Zvolen 5-1.
The visitors dominated, especially in the second period, scoring three goals within five minutes, building a comfortable 4-0 lead backed by a superb Swedish goalie Robin Rahm who finished the night with 34 saves.
In the battle between two struggling teams, HC Nove Zamky was up 3-1 after the first period thanks to Canadian forward Chirs Langkow's two goals, the first of the season.
MHK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas succeeded in tying the game up in the second period as they also produced a two-goal forward Marek Hovorka who scored the 4-3 game-winner while killing a penalty in the 53rd minute.
The remaining two fixtures of the 13th round had to be postponed due to health-related issues of the players. Enditem