With Lulea winning at home, the two playoff qualifiers from Group K are now known – Lulea and Lukko, as Fribourg cannot catch either one of them with their remaining game. Meanwhile, Eisbaren Berlin and the Espoo Blues got their first wins to move into 2nd place in their groups, HV71 have taken the lead in Group C and TPS maintain their lead in Group G
Dusseldorfer EG 4–5 TPS Turku
HIGHLIGHTS
In one of the more exciting games that we've seen so far in this year's CHL, DEG and TPS went back and forth all night and looked to be headed to extra time, but Harri Tikkanen scored the winning goal on the power play with 50 seconds to play to give 3 points to TPS, who pad their lead atop Group G. TPS scored the game's first two goals, but Dusseldorf came back with three in a row in the second, and the game continued to see-saw in front of an electrified crowd of 6,753. Henrik Tallinder scored 2 goals for TPS and Dave Spina had 3 assists. Norman Milley had 1 goal and 2 assists for Dusseldorf, who could have clinched a playoff spot with a win, but will have to wait until next weekend.
“It was a hard fought game. The winning goal by TPS was obviously tough for us. An unnecessary power play at the end was the reason for that. It feels like a win! I can't wait till Thursday to play against them,” said Dusseldorf's Travis Turnbull, who had 1 goal and 1 assist in the game.
“We took way too many penalties in the middle period, also Dusseldorf picked up their came and we got caught a bit,” Tallinder explained. “The momentum was with them after the penalties, and they played great after that. It's a tough building to play in, the fans were very loud making it hard to communicate on the ice. The game could have gone either way, they're a good team and so are we.”
Espoo Blues 4–2 Grenoble
HIGHLIGHTS
The hometown Blues held a decisive edge in play throughout the game, out-shooting their French visitors 49–16, but thanks to the stellar goaltending of Latvian Ervins Mustukovs, only managed a relatively close 4–2 win. Still, that's enough to get them their first win in the competition in their second game. Christophe Tatari opened the scoring for Grenoble in the first on the power play, but the Blues battled back with two goals in the second and two more in the third. Markus Poukkula, Kim Hirschovits and Peter Tiivola and Juuso Vainio had 2 points each for Espoo, while Jonathan Harty and Danick Bouchard did likewise for Grenoble.
“Of course it was important to win through good battling. We have had difficulties to score a goal but at the same time we keep believing in ourselves and shooting a lot,” Blues forward Timi Lahtinen said after the game. About his goal early in the third period, which proved to be the game-winner, he explained, “The puck bounced right to my stick and it was quite an easy job to finish from there. It was a sigh of relief for me.”
“It was a tough road game for us, the second game in three days. We were disciplined team on 5-on-5 and hung on there. Our goalie played very well for 60 minutes and kept us with a chance in the game,” said Grenoble coach Edo Terglav. About not pulling his goalie in the last minute for a sixth attacker, he brought up the tie-breaking formula: “We have another game at home. Two goals down is better than three.”
HV71 Jonkoping 7–1 SonderjyskE Vojens
HIGHLIGHTS
In a group where all three teams entered the day wtih 3 points, HV71 have announced their intentions to win the group in a big way with a big win, but it took them a while to get going. It wasn't until late in the first period when Simon Onderud opened the scoring, but HV71 broke it open in the second with four goals. Trailing 7–0 with eight minutes to go, Thomas Spelling got SonderjyskE on the board, but they got no closer. Chris Campoli and Ted Brithen each scored 2 for the winners, and Onderud would add 2 assists to finish with 3 points.
Eisbaren Berlin 6–1 Gap Rapaces
HIGHLIGHTS
With both teams still looking for their first points in Group P, Eisbaren loudly announced before their loud home fans that they intend to take the group's second playoff spot, following Zurich's qualification. They scored 4 goals in the first period and cruised to victory from there. Bruno Gervais scored 2 goals and Darin Olver had 1 goal and 2 assists for the victors, while Karel Richter scored Gap's lone goal in the third period.
“It was an important win for us today. Zurich was a hard test, but today we played better,” said Eisbaren forward Florian Busch, who had 2 assists in the game.
Said Gap head coach Luciano Basile, “We have to give Berlin credit, they came out very strong in the first period and it was a tough game for us. We lost too many races to the puck, and the game becomes very complicated then. We had our chances, but we only scored on one of our 16 scoring chances. I don't think we deserved to win this game, but I think it should have been closer.”
Lulea Hockey 4–2 Fribourg-Gotteron
HIGHLIGHTS
The goals came fast and furious at the start, with Lulea leading 3–2 after one period and then getting a fourth early in the second. Fribourg then made a goaltending change with Benjamin Conz replaced by Reto Lory, who stopped all 28 shots he faced the rest of the way. Joel Lassinanti also closed the door shut to the Lulea net, however, as Lulea take the first step toward a successful title defence by advancing to the next round. Peter Celharik and Jacob Micflikier each had a goal and an assist for Lulea, and Ryan Gardner did likewise for Fribourg.
“I think it was a good game, it was good for our momentum. We took some penalties, which gave them a chance to come back into the game. But we came out strong in the second period with that fourth goal, I really think that broke their spirit,” said Lulea forward Jacob Lagace, who scored the game's first goal at 2:46. “I saw we had a two against one – me and Billy (Bill Sweatt), so I gave him the puck, he rounded the net and found me where I stood with a half open cage.” On having two more games having already qualified for the next stage, he added, “The most important thing for us right now is to keep our momentum up and keep on practising.”