BRATISLAVA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The battle for the ice hockey title in Slovakia's premiership league Tipsport Liga is becoming strongly lopsided as Banska Bystrica club is only one win away from completing a three-peat, winning the third championship title in a row after beating Nitra on their home match by 7-3.
The visitors scored the first goal in the 9th minute by Guilllame Asselin after a two on one breakaway. Nitra evened up the score shortly after when Matus Rais's strong shot slipped past Banska Bystrica's goalie Stephon Williams. The end of the first period belonged to the visitors. Brock Higgs capitalized on a power play, making it 2-1.
The second period followed a similar script. Nitra's Erik Caladi tied the game at 2-2, only to see the visitors go into the lead again after a shorthanded goal by Eric Selleck. Banska Bystrica struck the decisive blows by the hands of Asselin and Karol Sloboda in two subsequent power shots to stretch the lead to 5-2.
Nitra tried to mix things up by changing the offensive lines and substituting their goalie Miroslav Hanuljak for Juraj Simboch, and actually managed to cut the deficit to 5-3 thanks to a goal by Marek Slovak.
But it was the visitors who sealed their victory in the third period when Jared Southhorn fired a sniper shot and Patrik Lamper set the final score at 7-3.
