In Sunday's action, four Czech teams were at home with three winning in extra time. Also, a pair of Swedish teams shut out the CHL's two French entrants.
Gap Rapaces 0–2 Linkoping HC
In their first home game, the Gap Rapaces played JYP tough for most of the game, save for a gap of a few minutes early in the second period. In their second game, they played rope-a-dope with Linkoping HC almost the full way, being one shot away from tying the score until almost the end, despite a lopsided advantage to Linkoping in terms of shots on goal, puck possession and territory.
Ken-Andre Olimb opened the scoring for Linkoping on the power play in the 16th minute with a backhander into the top corner, and after that they attacked in droves to get a second, as Gap played them physically and the teams traded penalties back and forth, with frustration building.
The shots on goal were 36-7 after 40 minutes, and that continued into the third. Finally, an undisciplined tripping call against Raphael Faure proved costly, and Broc Little scored Linkoping's second power-play goal of the night with just under four minutes to play. Marcus Hogberg posted the nine-save shutout, but had the uneasy feeling of knowing that every shot he faced could be the equalizer. At the other end, Clement Fouquerel stopped 50 of 52.
Djurgarden Stockholm 4–0 Rouen Dragons
In their first CHL game of the new season, Djurgarden Stockholm played a masterful defensive game and at the offensive end were persistent enough until their own chances finally started to go in.
For their part, the Rouen Dragons executed their game plan for most of the game, and almost escaped the second period still scoreless, despite a disparity in shots. With Djurgarden putting on pressure at the end of the middle frame, Daniel Brodin picked up a rebound and put it past a scrambling Dany Sabourin with just one second left – it was the home team's 36th shot on the French-Canadian keeper.
In the third period, things finally went Djurgarden's way, adding three goals to win without any drama at the end. Brodin finished with two goals and Mikael Tellqvist made 14 saves for the shutout.
Adler Mannheim 4–1 Tappara Tampere
After dropping their first CHL home game to HC Lugano, Adler Mannheim bounced back in a big way by beating Group C favourites Tappara Tampere with an impressive effort. With the win, they avoid the uncomfortable situation of coming away with zero points from their two home games.
In fact, the first four penalties of the game all went to Mannheim, who killed them off. Then Tappara took two quick penalties and Mannheim scored on both power plays – first captain David Wolf in the 27th minute on a 5-on-3, then Chad Kolarik 57 seconds later on the remaining 5-on-4. When Ryan McMurchy scored even strength four minutes, later, Die Adler had the game firmly in their control.
Tempers flared the rest of the way, with a pair of fights, and the teams traded goals in the third period.
BK Mlada Boleslav 3–2 Vaxjo Lakers (SO)
BK Mlada Boleslav barely escaped a desparate situation. In their CHL home debut, Tomas Pospisil opened the scoring on a 2-on-1 break in the first minute. Vaxjo scored twice before the end of the first period, however, and the score stayed 2-1 as the game approached its end.
But with just 59 seconds to play in regulation time, Jakub Osrava scored this third CHL goal, backhanding a shot through a maze of players and in, to save his team from an almost hopeless situation of being without a point after three games. Eventually, the game was decided in a shootout in Mlada Boleslav's favour, with Radan Lenc scoring the winning goal. Jan Lasak, who stopped 30 of 32 shots during 65 minutes of hockey, stopped four of Vaxjo's five shooters.
Suddenly, Mlada Boleslav's situation doesn't seem to terrible – they trail Yunost Minsk by one point, and host that team in their last Group L game on 6 September. However, they also have to hope that the Lakers now help them out by beating Yunost in those teams' two encounters, which are still yet to come.
Dynamo Pardubice 3–2 Frolunda Gothenburg (SO)
After two disastrous CHL campaigns with some agonizingly close defeats, Dynamo Pardubice have gone a long way to exorcising those demons with a shootout win over the defending champions Frolunda Gothenburg.
Over 65 minutes of hockey, Frolunda held the edge in play and a 2-1 margin in shots (32-16), but Brandon Maxwell, who surrendered two last-minute-winning goals in last year's CHL, was brilliant, particularly in the first two periods. Despite that, the teams traded goals each of the first two frames and were tied 2-2 after 40 minutes. After a defensively-played third period and overtime, the game was decided by a shootout.
Michal Tomasek and Justin Hodgman scored on Pardubice's third and fourth penalty shots, while Maxwell stopped Frolunda's first three attempts. Their fourth shooter was Mats Roselli-Olsen, who went upstairs and hit the bottom of the crossbar. In a dramatic finish, the referees went to video replay, where it was determined that the puck stayed out, so the game was over.
Sparta Prague 1–2 Farjestad Karlstad
Both teams had won their first Group O game in Krakow, so this game at Prague's O2 Arena was for first place at the midpoint, and Farjestad Karlstad scored a big 2-1 win, thanks to two third-period goals.
Tomas Netik put Sparta in front in the 14th minute, firing a beautiful wrister that beat Lars Haugen over the glove. That lead held up into the third period of what was a very evenly-played game. In the third period, it was special teams that made the difference in Farjestad's favour. First Linus Persson tied it shorthanded with a slapper that beat Filip Novotny far to the glove side. Then on the power play, Per Aslund deflected the winning goal home with 6:25 on the clock.
Eisbaren Berlin 2–4 SaiPa Lappeenranta
Eisbaren Berlin missed the chance to go alone in first place in their group with a tight home loss to SaiPa Lappeenranta at Mercedes Benz Arena.
The first period saw the home side have more than their fair share of chances and possession, while the Finns looked dangerous on the break. Die Eisbaren took the lead at 13:57 in somewhat controversial circumstances – a scramble in the crease eventually saw Nick Petersen poke the puck home but the SaiPa players were adamant the goal should not stand due to crease violations. The referees however, after video review, didn't agree and the goal stood. Berlin's lead lasted for just over a minute though – John McFarland helping himself to a rebound to tie the game at 15:01 and end the period at one each.
Jooma Jaaskelainen put the visitors ahead early in the middle period, before the home side rallied to create long spells of pressure – just without managing the breakthrough. A power-play chance towards the end of the period should have been a chance for the Eisbaren to level; however, Matti Jarvinen pounced on a loose puck to cooly slot home on the breakaway shorthanded and increase SaiPa's lead to two. In the final period the Eisbaren huffed and puffed but were unable to find a way past Jussi Markkanen. Daniel Fischbuch did pull one back with around ten minutes to go, but a blistering snapshot from Brett Carson cancelled it out to give SaiPa a 4-2 win.
Bili Tygri Liberec 4–3 Lorenskog IK (OT)
They were huge underdogs and, frankly, were badly outplayed all game long, but nonetheless Lorenksog IK took Czech champions Bili Tygri Liberec to overtime in their CHL debut - ultimately falling on Mario Bliznak's overtime goal.
Liberec outshot Lorenskog by a decisive 14-2 margin in the first period, and yet the score was tied 1-1, thanks to Mikael Dokken's early goal and Jeff Jakaitis's great goaltending - he was beaten only by a fantastic effort from Jan Ordos in the 17th minute. The two periods to follow were more of the same, yet each time each team scored once. Liberec may have thought they finally had the game after Radek Simek's power play goal with just over 10 minutes to play, but, amazingly, James Sexmith's seeing-eye shot through traffic beat Jan Lasak with just three seconds to play – Lorenskog's third goal on their eighth shot of the game.