Leo Komarov finally performed at HIFK for the first time.
HIFK suffered on Wednesday, a shocking defeat to SaiPa, who holds the last place in the SM League, with 2–3 goals after extra time
Despite the miserable result, there was something good about the evening, because Leo Komarov appeared for the first time in HIFK's shirt after his long injury.
The 36-year-old Komarov was featured in his return, especially because of his physicality, which was to be expected considering the conker's style of play. In the first match of the season, a good 13 minutes of playing time, one minus plus-minus statistic and two shots were recorded.
After the match, Komarov was popular with the media when he gave interviews to several media in the Uumeni of the Helsinki Ice Hall.
“My game was a bit like training is training and games are games. There was nothing good about it, but I don't know if I expected more since I haven't played in a long time. That's where it starts,” Komarov said.
According to his own words, he still played with a bit of feeling.
“I wouldn't say that I played cautiously, but I have to feel a little how the body can withstand different situations.”
In the year 2011 for Komarov, who celebrated the world championship, the match was the first in the SM league in almost 15 years. Most recently, he had pulled on the Pelicans' bunt in the Finnish leagues.
The return to the SM league took about four months longer than planned, when Komarov fell ill for a long time already during the training season. In the past months, he has not only rehabilitated himself but also watched from the sidelines as his teammates battle for important series points in the rink.
“Of course it's not nice. However, I think everything has gone very well in the rehabilitation, HIFK has helped a lot and there have been many good officers and doctors. There is still quite a lot of work here.”
There were hints of Komarov's return already last week, when the striker was part of HIFK's away tour and was on the ice in the warm-ups of three matches. However, he was not seen in the lineup.
According to the player himself, not playing the away tour was planned.
“I went there just to see the mood,” he says.
To SaiPa the win over IFK was a huge surprise. SaiPa is clearly last in the SM league.
The home crowd welcomed Komarov with thunderous applause when his name was announced while going through the lineup of the home team. The power forward also had the honor of starting the match in the starting five.
HIFK started the match briskly, and after only four minutes of play, the scoreboard showed 2-0. However, SaiPa leveled up.
After the end of the third period, the home audience booed their own weak performance. Tismalee's same reaction was heard in November at the Helsinki ice hall, when HIFK and SaiPa went into overtime in a 0-0 situation.
The boos reached overtime, when Santeri Airola scored the game-winning goal with eight seconds left. HIFK had to settle for one point against the league jumbo.
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