BRATISLAVA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Nitra Hockey Club took first place in the rankings in the Slovak ice-hockey premiership Tipos Extraliga after winning its third-round match on Friday against Detva.

Reigning champions Banska Bystrica, on the other hand, are experiencing a nightmare start into the new season, getting crushed by Poprad 7-1, losing their third straight match as a result.

Slovan Bratislava, one of the top title-contenders, was also close to losing its third in succession but managed to edge out Miskolc in OT to earn the first points of the season.

The Tipos Extraliga, like many competitions around the world, has been severely affected by Covid-19. DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc, the only Hungarian team playing in the Slovak premiership, announced that all of its players tested negative again and after two missed rounds entered the new season with a solid performance on home ice against the struggling title-contender Slovan Bratislava.

Penalty kills turned out to be the key component of the match in Miskolc as three out of five goals were scored on a man-advantage, including the deciding one.

Bratislava's talented young forward Samuel Bucek was the hero of the match, scoring the golden goal early in OT, his first of the season, after assisting on the tying goal in the second period. The team from Slovakia's capital climbed up two spots in the rankings to 7th place after the 3-2 OT victory.

Kosice and Nove Zamky are still waiting for their rosters to receive the green light by the health institution but a new team, Michalovce, has been benched for two rounds due to a coronavirus occurrence after playing the initial two rounds of Tipos Extraliga.

Nitra is the new leader of the rankings; its third win out of three came after a solid performance in the first two periods on Detva's ice.

The home team's American goalie Tomas Sholl had his hands full, making a solid 39 saves during Nitra's offensive pressure (the first goal was scored just 36 seconds into the game), letting only three pucks slide past his back.

But it turned out to be enough for the visitors although the home team almost managed to force the game into overtime by cutting the 0-3 deficit to one in the final stretch.

The "horned derby" between the "chamois" from Poprad and the "rams" from Banska Bystrica turned into a lopsided scoring fest for the home team.

A whopping 7 goals ended in the goal of the champions of the three previous seasons who are having a very bad start into the new one, losing their third in a row and sitting humiliated on the bottom of the rankings in 12th place.

After a goalless first period, the flood gates opened wide in the second in which Poprad scored five times.

Marcel Hascak and Patrik Svitana led the scoreboard with two goals each, Svitana added also two assists to put a silver lining to his exceptional performance and help his team climb to the second place in the rankings.

Radovan Pulis' wonderful hat-trick night adorned the match in Zvolen where he led his team to a 5-2 victory over the visitors from Trencin.

Despite conceding four goals, Trencin's veteran goalie Michal Valent made a respectable 36 saves to keep his team from losing even higher. Zvolen moved up to third place, pushing Trencin down to fifth. Enditem

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