Lugano beats Lausanne 4-0 at home, Lausanne's second straight heavy defeat

Lugano takes a 4-0 lead by the 31st minute

Lugano beat Lausanne 4-0 at home in the National League on Thursday, 29 October. Luca Fazzini opened the scoring in the fourth minute, after Lausanne's Heldner could not control the puck. Olle Lycksell made it 2-0 in the 19th minute, when the Lausanne defence did not help goalie Kevin Pasche. Fazzini scored his second goal in the 27th minute, and video review confirmed it. Zach Sanford completed the lead in the 31st minute, assisted by Kupari. Lausanne had only three fit foreign players, and 5,229 fans attended.

Lausanne's chances go unrewarded

Lausanne's best opportunity came late in the middle period, when Léonardo Fuhrer hit the post on a power play. Shortly afterwards, Jason Fuchs appeared to cut the deficit to 1-4, but Lugano's coach's challenge showed an offside and the goal was disallowed. Pasche broke his stick in frustration after the fourth goal but stayed in the net. No further goals followed, and Schlegel recorded the first shutout of the season for Lugano.

Lugano's losing run

Lugano had lost 2-7 at Zug on Tuesday, 27 October, its third straight defeat and its fifth in the last six games. Lausanne lost 3-9 to the SCL Tigers on the same day. Mirco Müller, a 31-year-old defender with 188 NHL games behind him, said the team had made too many mistakes.

“We have to be smarter as a team, we made a few mistakes too many.”

Lugano have lost nine of their last 13 games under coach Tomas Mitell and sit third from bottom, with Kloten last. Sporting director Janick Steinmann described the gap between performances and results.

“We had many games where we were very good and then ruined them in a very short time.”

A leaky defence and shots on goal

Lugano's attack is not the main problem, with 501 shots on goal this season before the Wednesday, 28 October games. Only the ZSC Lions (553) and Lausanne (547) have taken more.

ZSC Lions553

Lausanne547

Lugano501

ZSC Lions

553 shots

Lausanne

547 shots

Lugano

501 shots

Data from the article text

Defence is the bigger concern. Lugano concede 3.63 goals per game, the highest figure in the league, and their shooting efficiency is 9.78 per cent. Their penalty kill of 71.19 per cent is bettered only by Ambri-Piotta, at 70.00 per cent. Last season Lugano also had 19 points after 16 games, finished fifth in the qualification and lost the quarterfinal 0-4 to the ZSC Lions.

Ticino derby on Saturday

Lugano's next game is on Saturday, 31 October, the last before the international break, away at Ambri-Piotta in the Ticino derby. Lugano lost the first derby of the season 3-5 at home in late September. Ambri-Piotta sit second in the table, eleven points ahead of last-placed Kloten.