Vaasan Sport lost their final 20 matches of last season en route to finishing rock bottom, but created headlines on opening night on 1st September by winning 5-4 after penalties against Jokerit, who returned to the Finnish top flight.
Away at Pelicans, their troubles looked to be returning when they found themselves 4-0 down in 16 minutes, as Oleksii Myklukha grabbed two for the Lahti side. But with two from Lari Heikkinen and one from Kalle Ostman, Sport dominated the second period, and only a Luke Grainger goal disallowed following a review denied them completing the comeback before the 40-minute mark.
In the third period, Pelicans managed to stop the rot, but only made sure of victory in the final minute with a pair of empty-net goals to make the final score 6-3.
Kiekko-Espoo cruised to a 5-1 win over KalPa on opening night, but the Kuopio side showed they had put that defeat behind them quickly by winning 4-0 at Jukurit - the only side so far to lose their first two matches. Konsta Kapanen scored twice for KalPa, and while Stefanos Lekkas needed only make 17 saves to complete his shutout, that was one more shot on target than his teammates managed.
Petteri Riihinen scored two as Assat went 5-0 up at home to Ilves before Luke Henman denied the hosts a shutout with a late consolation and made the final score 5-1, while a brace from Eetu Liukas helped IFK Helsinki come from 3-2 down with one period to play to beat Hameenlinna 5-3. Of the six teams to have played twice so far, not one has managed back-to-back victories.
Review all the results from the start of the Liiga season on Flashscore.
