The Champions Hockey League now knows four of the teams that will be among the final 32, as Karpat, Litvinov and Skelleftea all secured home-ice wins to advance to the playoff stage. Tappara lost in overtime to Djurgarden, but the single point is enough to see them through. Lukko's win has them on the brink of advancing.
HK Nitra 2–3 Skelleftea AIK (SO)
HIGHLIGHTS
Nitra have proven that the tough fight they put up against Skelleftea in the CHL opener wasn't just a fluke, as they went into northern Sweden and pulled out a point after a marathon shootout loss. All four goals regulation-time were scored in the first period, with Nitra leading 2–1 just 3:13 in. Nitra's Peter Konig and Skelleftea's Janne Pesonen each had 1 goal and 1 assist for their teams, and Terry Broadhurst scored the shootout winner for Skelleftea in the 12th round after Erik Hanses and Michal Valent each stopped 9 of the first 11 they faced.
“I think that we started this game really good and got that fast goal, but after that we just stopped playing good by some reason and they got two easy goals. Luckily, we managed to tie the game before the end of the first period,” said Hanses. About the 12-round shootout he said, “I’ve never experienced anything like this, but I felt like I got better and better control of their shooters the longer the shootout proceeded and it was a nice feeling when Terry scored that game winner.”
“We knew coming up here would be tough because Skelleftea AIK are a very good team and it was very hard out there tonight for sure,” said Nitra assistant coach Andrej Kmec. “Even though I’m very happy with one point against this team, I feel like maybe we should have won this in the shootout but failed to succeed in that stage.”
HC Litvinov 6–4 Grenoble
HIGHLIGHTS
Thanks to five goals in the second period – two quick ones in the first minute and then three in a 5:27 span later in the period – Litvinov gained their third straight win, and second over Grenoble, to become the fourth team to secure a CHL playoff berth. Grenoble scored two in a row in the second period and then two more in the third to make the final score more respectable – Danick Bouchard scored 2 goals and added 1 assist.
Terglav Edo (Grenoble head coach): “It is sure disappointing to lose but we have to think about the good things from this game,” said Grenoble coach Terglav Edo. “We have some regrets about the second period much like in the first game. We had a lot of penalties and that's the worst thing we can do against good team like Litvinov. In the third period we played well, scored some goals but it was a little too late.”
“Our start to the game was very strong. We scored a goal in the beginning and then we continued to play very well, especially in the second period. We scored another two goals in the beginning and took it into our hands,” said Litvinov's Rostislav Martinek, who had a goal and an assist. About clinching a playoff spot with another game to play, he said, “It might be tough to find some motivation for the next game but we'll do our best and hopefully those games will be good.”
Tappara Tampere 2–3 Djurgarden Stockholm (OT)
HIGHLIGHTS
Tomi Sallinen scored in overtime to give Djurgarden their first points in Group B, and partially avange last week's home-ice loss to Tappara. However, the single point is enough to see Tappara through to the playoffs. Defenceman Nick Plastino scored both of Tappara's goals, assisted by Arttu Illomaki, while Linus Hulstrom had a goal and an assist for Djurgarden.
“I was brought up here to be offensive player, but I don't see myself strictly as such. I try to keep playing both ways well,” Plastino said about his role on the team after his 2-goal effort. “We were a little nervous at the start and the first period was a little flat. In the second period we were able to pick up our game. Our guys took great blocks and game got more physical, so we got better into it.”
“We had a good team effort today – over 60 minutes we were the better team and deserved to win,” said Djurgarden head coach Hans Sarkijarvi. “We showed good team spirit, I think better than the game in Stockholm from our point of view, and we're happy with the win.”
Lukko Rauma 4–2 Fribourg-Gotteron
HIGHLIGHTS
With the win, Lukko move very close to advancing, as the worst that can now happen is they end up in a three-way tie in Group K. Fribourg came out strong to start and fired 13 shots at Ryan Zapolski in the first period, but couldn't beat him. Andrei Bykov finally beat the Lukko keeper in the 26th minute, but Fribourg then ran into penalty trouble and Lukko scored three straight goals – two on the power play – in a 1:51 span. Lukko were 3-for-7 with the man advantage in the game, with Jesse Virtanen scoring twice. Fribourg were 0-for-2.
“We had a good game plan,” said Fribourg centre Julien Sprunger. “First period 0–0 and then we scored the first goal and that was our plan: score first and be strong defensively and after that we took way too many penalties. We were leading 1–0 and then took two penalties in a row. The 5-on-3 cost us two goals and Lukko took the energy back from us. We played well but they scored well on the power play and we took so many penalties that I think that killed us. The power play is really important and we weren’t disciplined enough to keep out of the box and that’s why we lost the game.”
“We prepared to play a high-tempo game,” said Lukko coach Juha Vuori. “In the first period we saw the differences between the teams – on the power play we were really good tonight. Otherwise playing 5-on-5 was pretty even. We made some mistakes with the puck and that’s something we emphasized during the intermissions and also we knew that Fribourg’s really good with the puck in front of the net, so that really kept us on our toes the whole game.”
Karpat Oulu 4–1 Krefeld Pinguine
HIGHLIGHTS
In their third game Karpat surrendered their first goal to Krefeld's Daniel Pietta in the first period, but it was only one and they got their third straight win to clinch their spot among the CHL's final 32 teams. Pietta's goal tied it in on the power play the 6th minute, just after Ivan Huml had opened the scoring for Karpat. Adam Masuhr and Juuso Ikonen had a goal and an assist, while Sami Aittokallio has now given up just 1 goal in three complete games.
“It’s nice to be back here, been away couple of years,” said Krefeld goalie Tomas Duba, who had a couple of separate tours of duty in Finland in the late 2000s. “Karpat were very strong in the first period. We tried to hold them there and keep the score tight, but they scored the second and third goals and that pretty much put the game away. We competed against a very strong, fast team who are champions. We are a young team so we had a little trouble with the speed, so once under pressure we made a few mistakes. But it’s great experience to play for everyone. None of them play international hockey so I think, despite the mistakes it was a good game, for me it was more work but it was ok.”
“It was the first home game and we were naturally very enthusiastic,” said Karpat coach Laur Marjamaki. “Today we were the better team. We had some trouble finishing our chances in the first period, and in the second we had a few minor breakdowns but still we didn’t give the opponent a lot of scoring chances when playing 5-on-5. We got two power-play goals, which was nice since we had practised the power play this week. All round it was a pretty good performance, considering the time of the year.”