Lugano returned to winning ways on Tuesday evening in Geneva, beating Geneve-Servette 5-2 in the National League. The game was effectively settled in a first period that the visitors closed 4-0 ahead, and the win brings three points for Tomas Mitell's team after a barren weekend that ended with a 2-3 home defeat against Davos and a heavy 6-1 loss at Fribourg on Saturday. It was the second meeting of the season between the two sides, after Lugano won the first 6-3 at home on 15 September.

The start was lightning fast. In the 6th minute Zach Sanford opened the scoring from a Luca Fazzini assist, and a few minutes later the two swapped roles, Fazzini scoring in the 10th minute from Sanford, with Alexander Lycksell collecting the second assist. Geneva made their own task harder with two penalties in quick succession, and Lugano took advantage on the powerplay through Jere Innala, before captain Calvin Thuerkauf made it 4-0 in the 17th minute from Enzo Guebey and Innala. At that point the hosts replaced goaltender Stephane Charlin with Joren van Pottelberghe, who moved from Lugano to Geneva a few weeks ago in the swap between the two clubs that brought Robert Mayer to Ticino.

Mayer in goal and a fifth from Shore

In Lugano's goal it was indeed Mayer, Geneva's goaltender for years and on Tuesday evening facing his former club at Les Vernets. In the second period Lugano controlled the home side's attempt at a response, and in the 36th minute Nick Shore made it 5-0 from David Aebischer and Linus Olsson, profiting from a scramble in front of the Geneva goal. The only negative note of the evening, according to the Gazzetta del Ticino report, was the early exit of Jesper Peltonen, who left the ice after a collision with the boards; the defenceman had been listed in the starting lineup.

In the third period Geneva reduced the margin without ever truly reopening the game. Tim Bozon scored the hosts' first goal in the 52nd minute from Simon Le Coultre and Adam Boqvist, and Boqvist himself set the final 2-5 score nine seconds before the siren, set up by Arthur Dandois and Bozon. Lugano also finished ahead on the shot count, 33 to 21 according to the match record published by Planete Hockey, in front of 5,753 spectators. For Geneva, who began the evening second in the standings, the defeat followed losses for Lausanne and Fribourg on the same evening.

Eighteen points, and Kloten visit on Friday

With the three points taken in Geneva, Lugano move to 18 points from thirteen games, as the standings published by the club after the evening confirm; before the trip west they had 15 points from twelve games, in eleventh place. The next fixture comes quickly, on Friday 23 October at 7.45 pm, when EHC Kloten visit the Corner Arena, followed on Sunday by a trip to Bern. The priority for Lugano will be to build on the response shown at Les Vernets, starting with the defensive solidity that had been missing in the two weekend outings.