The clear objective before the decisive battle of this series was a strong first period. That was easier said than done, however.

"They got the first goal, and in this series the team that´s scored first has usually won. In the first period we didn´t play that bad but we gave up that goal, which was probably the key moment of the game. In the second period it was still 1-0, then made two mistakes and they took advantage of them, which broke it open. Then we were forced to open up, which played into their hands," summed Jandač.

A key element of this game was surely Třinec goalie Peter Hamerlík, who on Wednesday posted a shutout. Spartans him but this time a lot easier. "He was steady in goal the entire series, but today we didn´t make it difficult enough for him and therefore we were unable to score," the coach continued.

According to him, the series was very balanced, with only a few small details that decided it. "The key moment was perhaps the first game at home. We played well but we lost. In the series as a whole, goals seemed to come easier for Třinec, while we had to work harder. We had about six or seven goals that we basically gave them. Today´s first goal was a perfect example of that, and was a microcosm of the whole series," Jandač concluded.

Pinc: If we were playing at home, we would have beaten them

During the series, goaltender Marek Pinc suffered a concussion and had to leave game two early. He returned to backstop Sparta to a 3-1 win in game six on home ice to force a decisive seventh game in Třinec. In that game, however, the home team cruised to a 5-0 victory on the strength of two power-play goals, a shorthanded marker and the last one into the empty net.

You fell behind early with that unlucky goal and you had to catch up. What happened there in the 10th minute?
They came in two-on-one, there was a pass and a shot, our defenceman sort of blocked it came to me, but somehow it bounced to Martin Růžička and put it into the empty net.

What do you think ultimately decided the series?
Třinec is known to have an excellent attack, which happened. On top of that, we gave them a lot of goals, a lot of which were unfortunate bounces off skates and the like--maybe six goals went in off our own players. In the playoffs you can´t be that sloppy, especially against such a great offensive team. I think it was a great series to watch with a lot of back-and-forth action, but it´s too bad that we weren´t a bit tighter defensively.

At what point did you know that you wouldn´t be able to get back into the game?
When it was 3-0 there was still a tiny hope, but when they scored the fourth into the empty net, it was done. They put up five goals, us none, and you´re not going to win when you don´t score.

Do you regret losing out to Třinec in the standings by one point, which made the difference who got game seven at home?
Now that I look at it after the series, probably yes. I believe that if we were playing at home, we would have beaten them. Each won once on the road, but playing the seventh game at home is definitely a big advantage. Too bad we didn´t get more points during the season so we would´ve played game seven at home. As we´ve seen, it´s a great advantage.