Goalie Sami Aittokallio has started this CHL season with back-to-back shutouts after Karpat beat the Vienna Capitals 2–0. Meanwhile, Dusseldorfter EG, ERC Ingolstadt and Geneve-Servette opened their CHL campaigns with home wins, Geneve in overtime.
Geneve-Servette 4–3 Sparta Prague (OT)
HIGHLIGHTS
Three times Sparta took the lead, hoping to become the fourth team this weekend to sweep on the road, and three times Geneve replied. Matthew Lombardi scored the tying goal with 6:26 left in reguation time and then set up Johan Fransson for the game-winner in overtime. Martin Reway led Sparta offensively with 2 assists. Despite the loss, Sparta is in decent shape to make the next round by taking 4 points from their two road games.
“It was an exciting game for both teams,” said Sparta coach Josef Jandac. “After 60 minutes, our presence on the ice was good. We want to go to the CHL playffs and therefore I hope that this 1 point we got tonight will be important to succeed in our group. We were good on power plays, but we made big zone mistakes during the second period. We then had bad faceoffs. Geneve is different to the teams in our national league. We had to make changes in our game plan. We tried to play fast, but Geneve were excellent and answered every time we scored.”
“We knew that Sparta Prague are extremely strong physically, and very well-structured in the neutral zone,” said Geneve assistant coach Louis Matte. “They are extremely strong 1-on-1. We therefore had to move the puck far quicker and not play against the wall, which we did badly only once during the first period. During the second period, we pushed our strengths forward. It helped, but we then made two big mistakes. Sparta have everything: a good mix of experienced and young players, lots of skill, strong, well structured. They are dangerous.”
ERC Ingolstadt 5–2 Braehead Clan
HIGHLIGHTS
After being overmatched in their first game against the Swedish champions, the Braehead Clan followed the lead of their fellow British club earlier today and gave German finalists ERC Ingolstadt all they could handle. Clan captain Matt Keith scored the game's first goal on the power play and Chris Bruton tied it 2–2 early in the third period before the team seemingly running out of gas. Alex Leavitt assisted on both Braehead goals. For Ingolstadt, Petr Taticek (2+2) and Thomas Greilinger (1+3) had 4 points each, while John Laliberte also scored twice.
Trying to explain how the team's start, Taticek explained, “We made too many mistakes at the blueline and were too aggressive, so they had a lot of 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 situations. Then we played better defensively, so we were able to beat them.”
Braehead coach Ryan Finnerty said, “We controlled large larts of the first period, but the special teams made the difference. I am dissapointed how the game ended.”
Dusseldorfer EG 6–3 Black Wings Linz
HIGHLIGHTS
In front of a CHL season high of 6,513 noisy fans, Dusseldorfer EG overcame an early two-goal deficit and won their first-ever CHL game and handed Linz their second loss. The first 11 minutes belonged to the visitors, who scored the game's first two goals and carried the play, but Dusseldorf pushed back and took over the game with five straight, including four in the last six minutes of the second period. Norm Milley scored 2 goals in that span, while defenceman Bernhard Ebner scored a goal and had 2 assists. Andrew Kozek scored Linz's first and third goals.
"We started really strong in the first period, but we made enormous errors in the second period. Dusseldorf are a skilled team took advantage of the errors. That was the main difference today," said Linz coach Rob Daum. "The 5–2 goal was the final breaking point. We could not step up the pace."
"We started very nervous in the game, but the team understood really quickly that we wanted to win this first home game," said Dusseldorf coach Christof Kreutzer. "This is very important for us to survive the group phase. Our fans were the decisive element tonight."
Vienna Capitals 0–2 Karpat Oulu
HIGHLIGHTS
Karpat join Zurich and Davos as clubs that have taken the maximum 6 points from their two away games – and what's more, they've done it without surrendering a goal. Jani Hakanpaa and Sami Maenalainen scored in the first period and the rest was up to the team's defence and goalie Sami Aittokallio, who stopped all 18 shots he faced.
Vienna winger Danny Bois acknowledged how strong defensively Karpat are: “After the 2-goal cushion they had, it was hard to play against them. Maybe we had too much respect after the games last year in the CHL were they played really well. We were a little too hesitant and they capitalized on it.”
Added Vienna coach Jim Boni, “It's like playing a soccer game, Austria against Argentina. You can play against them but you are most of the time one step behind. Very good moves and stickhandling. You can see that Finland is a top-four nation.”