If we learned anything on the opening night of the Champions Hockey League, it's that a 3-0 lead is never safe. In addition to Tappara Tampere's comeback win in an early game, Finnish rival IFK Helsinki also came back to edge SønderjyskE Vojens in a shootout. Genève -Servette and Kärpät Oulu also led 3-0 but held on to barely win.
Staff Writers
Genève-Servette 4-3 Frölunda Gothenburg
Genève built up a 3-0 lead on home ice after two periods, including a goal they scored while two men short, but in the end they had to hold on as Frölunda came back in the third to make it a one-goal game, twice. Chris Rivera scored the game-winning goal with 6:24 on the clock to give his team a two-goal cushion, but Mathis Olimb's goal with 2:59 remaining made for a nail-biting finish.
"Geneve deserved to win. It is an experienced team, very tough and offensive," said Frölunda coach Roger Rönnberg. "What killed the game for us is the goal when we were 5-on-3. We had a good game. But not good enough."
"The 3-on-5 situation could have been very painful. We were very lucky to score at that point," said Geneve assistant coach Louis Matté. "Frölunda is the favourite in our group and it was important for us to take 3 points at home if we want to move to the next phase."
Bili Tygri Liberec 3-4 Kärpät Oulu
Like Genève, Kärpät also built up a 3-0 lead, then held on to win 4-3. The differences were they were playing on the road, and they actually went up 4-0. When Simon Suoranta scored in the 28th minute to make the four-goal difference, not many though it would be the winning goal, but Liberec came back to score twice before the end of the period and once more in the third to make it close.
"Coming here we wanted a good start and we definitely accomplished that," said Kärpät's Dan Spring. "We came out, had a good first period, it was nice to get up a few goals and luckily we were able to hold on to that lead."
"I don't think we were the worse team, but it's tough to come back from a four-goal deficit," said Michal Bulir, who had 3 points in a losing cause. "We managed to cut the lead to a single goal and then we had an extra attacker on, but unfortunately, we were unable to get the fouth goal."
ZSC Lions Zurich 4-1 Vålerenga Oslo
Vålerenga Oslo went into the lion's den, the historic Hallenstadion, and left the first period tied 1-1. They couldn't stay with the defending Swiss and CHL champions forever, though, and ZSC ultimately out-lasted them 4-1. Ryan Keller tapped home the winning goal early in the second period.
SønderjyskE Vojens 4-5 IFK Helsinki (SO)
In another case of a 3-0 lead not being safe, Danish side SønderjyskE Vojens scored three early goals against IFK, only to see their guests from the Finnish come back and win in a shootout. IFK chipped away at the lead, outscoring Vojens 2-1 in the second and then 2-0 in the third, with defenceman Lauri Taipalus scoring his second goal of the game with just 58 seconds left.
"My players showed good character and kept on believing that we could turn it around," said IFK head coach Antti Törmänen. "The 4-4 goal came a little late, but I'm really glad that it came at last. It was great with such an intense game so early in the season."
"We thought that they might underestimate us a bit, and it was our game plan to come out and catch them from the start of the game," Vojens coach Dan Ceman said of his team's strategy, which earned 1 point at least but almost was 3. "We succeeded, played the simple game and got a lot of pucks to their net. But of course we are all disappointed that we couldn't hold on and win the game."
Växjö Lakers 6-1 Adler Mannheim
On home ice, the Växjö Lakers led 1-0 after one period and 2-1 after two, then broke the game open with four goals in the third period. Alexander Johansson opened the scoring in the sixth minute, then added another goal in the third period. Sebastian Erixon had 4 assists in the game and Patrik Lundh had 3.
"It is fun with something new," Växjö forward Robert Rosén said about his first CHL game. "We didn’t play splendidly for 60 minutes like we wanted to play but we got good distribution, especially in the last period. We got a few simple goals and scored on the power play. It was a good start and we have something good to build on."
"Obviously after losing 6-1 I don’t feel that great but there are a lot of things we can learn," said Adler forward Jamie Tardif. "We play again on Sunday so there is a quick turnaround and a quick flight tomorrow. I think we are going to be okay. We just need to stick to our game a little bit more and it was only 2-1 after two periods. I think we can build on that. If we get a couple of bounces things maybe start to go our way."
Djurgården Stockholm 5-4 Fribourg-Gottéron (OT)
The first day ended with a 5-4 overtime victory on home ice by Djurgården. With nine goals in the game, it's surprising that the game was actually scoreless until the 31st minute, when Nicklas Heinerö scored on a deflection. The rest of regulation time was a see-saw battle, with Joel Kwiatkowski tying it late for Fribourg and then Mikael Samuelsson ending it in overtime.