BRATISLAVA, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- League leaders Kosice ended Poprad's nine-game winning streak in Slovakia's ice hockey Tipsport Liga with a 4-0 win, stretching its own sequence of victories to ten and stretching its lead to four points.

David Ruzicka assisted two goals and scored an empty-netter in the last minute when Poprad desperately tried to put at least one puck beyond Kosice's young goalie Stanislav Skorvanek, who finished the night with his first shutout of the season.

Nitra's curse against third-ranked Banska Bystrica continues. In the last 25 clashes against Bystrica, Nitra had never won in regulation time, and this negative streak ran to 26 on Sunday, as they lost 2-1 to the last season's champions.

Elsewhere, Trencin continues to build on its series of victories, beating Zvolen 2-0. The league's second-top scorer Brandon Alderson opened the scoring late in the first period on a 5-on-3 powerplay with his 20th goal of the season.

The visitors' streak of bad luck that began at the end of November continued, with Zvolen losing its seventh consecutive match, losing one more place in the table and slipping to seventh place.

Miskolc took Zvolen's sixth place in the rankings, moving into the league's top half after a surprisingly close 3-2 victory over bottom side Liptovsky Mikulas. The visitors were close to ending their five-game losing streak but failed to do so despite two powerplay goals on the ice of one of the two Hungarian teams playing in the Slovak league.

Michalovce showed Liptovsky Mikulas how it's done, cutting its five-game negative streak after defeating Budapest, the other Hungarian team, 5-2. Michalovce's forward Peter Galambos scored twice to help the league newcomers move up in the rankings to eighth place.

Twelfth-ranked Nove Zamky cut its deficit to Detva to two points in a direct clash, triumphing 2-0. The home team's 23-year old goalie Christian Pavlas registered his first shutout of the season. Enditem

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