Published 23.04.2015 20:03 GMT+2 | Author Martin Merk

Hungary came back from a two-goal deficit to beat Ukraine 4-2. Their game against Poland on Saturday will decide about promotion.

The result also means that Italy is not only virtually but also mathematically eliminated from the race for promotion. Kazakhstan can secure promotion already tonight while Hungary and Poland will determine their future in their head-to-head clash in two days.

Recently naturalized Andrew Sarauer scored two goals and had three points in the Hungarian win.

“We just didn’t want to get negative. We were down 2-0 but we knew we had a good team. We didn’t want to go down 2-0, it’s tough, but we battled hard and scored the one that brought life back into the room,” Sarauer said about the comeback.

The victory makes the maths for the last game day easy for Hungary. With a win against host Poland on Saturday, in regulation time, overtime or shootout, the Magyars can make it back to the top division for 2016. In some cases even a point from an overtime/shootout loss may be sufficient.

“We managed to have 15 shots on goal and had nothing to show from it. Our guys got frustrated and it cost us goals in the second period,” Hungary head coach Rich Chernomaz said. “We found a way in the third period and showed the result we wanted.”

The many Hungarian fans at the Tauron Arena Krakow needed some patience. Although Hungary outshot Ukraine 15-7 in the first period the teams went into the dressing room for the first intermission with a scoreless game.

“The team was a little bit tired after last night’s game,” Ukraine coach Alexander Godynyuk said. “The first period was very tough for us. We basically just tried to kill the offensive wave of the Hungarians. We scored the lead in the second period but unfortunately we blew it in the third period. It’s a tough loss, I feel empty right now.”