In-form Lugano face out of sorts Pilsen

HC Lugano are part of a strong contingent of Swiss teams that have come to this year's CHL, and they won a very tough group that included Finnish champions Tappara Tampere. HC Pilsen, on the other hand, had a good chance to be winners of a group with no clear favourite, but stumbled against HK Nitra from Slovakia and finished second. On paper, Lugano should be the favourites, but injuries to the back end and especially to goalie Elvis Merzlikins, combined with an offensive flair shown from Pilsen, could make this an interesting two games.  

Despite Lugano being the higher seed, they will host the first game of this series, with the return leg being played in Pilsen. Home ice might not be such a huge factor, though, as both won once and lost once at home during the group stage.

Lugano won a very tight Group C, winning three out of four games. They started by allowing two goals in the first period in Mannheim before coming back to win 3-2. Then, after a 3-1 home loss to Tappara, they returned the favour by a win by the same score in Tampere. In their last game at home to Mannheim, they needed just a point to secure their place in the next round – they got it with a tying goal from Patrik Zackrisson in the dying seconds, then secured the group win with an overtime power-play goal by Linus Klasen. They looked strong in the group stage, but things could be more difficult moving forward with a rash of injuries to deal with. The Swiss side are on a good run in the NLA, unbeaten in their last few games.

Things started out well for Pilsen when they opened with a 3-0 win in Stavanger, thanks to strong performances from Dominik Kubalik and Matej Machovsky. They then stumbled in two games against Slovak champs Nitra, however, losing 2-1 in Slovakia, then on home ice blowing an early 2-0 lead and losing 4-2. That put them in the position of having to win their last game against Stavanger and they did, 6-4. Pilsen has shown an ability to score and they might try to expose a Lugano back end that has been hit by injuries, but they've also had trouble holding leads and keeping the puck out of their own net at times. Domestically, Pilsen have struggled this season and sit only two places above last in the Extraliga.