Varese Hockey took a 6-4 decision over Hockey Pergine Sapiens in regulation, and the whole thing was effectively settled in the opening 20 minutes. Varese scored five unanswered in the first period and spent the rest of the night managing a lead that never actually came under threat.
The middle period was the quiet one: Pergine got on the board with the only goal of the frame to make it 5-1 after 40. The third was the most open stretch of the game — four goals in all, Varese adding one and Pergine three — but the visitors were chasing a four-goal deficit the entire way, and 6-4 was as close as it got.
The number that matters is 5-0 in the first. Pergine won the final two periods on goals, 4-1 combined, and still lost by two; that is what a five-goal opening period buys you.