Tomas Kopecky (pictured above in Panthers garb) returned to duty after missing Sunday’s loss against HK Poprad and was held without a point for the first time this season. The Florida Panthers forward centered Dukla Trencin’s second line, flanked by Radoslav Tybor and Peter Sojcik, during a 2-1 loss on home ice to SHK 37 Piestany in Tuesday action from Slovakia’s Extraliga. Kopecky had a pretty quiet evening, finishing with no shots on goal and an even rating.
Rostislav Marosz got Dukla Trencin on the board first, scoring his fourth of the season at 17:54 of the first period. Jan Pardavy and Jakub Gasparovic picked up assists on the power play goal.
In the second period, Piestany would reply on the power play to even the score. Tibor Melicharek got the goal with Tomas Brnak and Marek Mertle collecting the assists.
Michal Pesko staked visting Piestany to the lead, scoring the eventual winner at the 6:28 mark of the third period with assists going to Martin Chylo and Jozef Haring. The goal came with the teams skating at even strength and was Pesko’s third of the campaign.
Piestany netminder Tomas Tomek would hold Dukla Trencin at bay the rest of the game, finishing with 20 saves to post the win while Matej Kristin stopped 28 shots in a losing effort.