There were three games starting on Sunday afternoon CHL action, with Swedish clubs Linköping HC and Lulea hockey both scoring big victories. A third Swedish team, HV71, fell at home to Red Bull Salzburg and TPS Turku edged Pardubice.
Linköping HC 5-0 HC Bolzano
Linköping HC improved to 2-0 in Group F with a 5-0 home-ice win over HC Bolzano, who fall to 0-2. They scored twice in each of the first two periods and Jeff Taffe was in on all four goals with 2 goals and 2 assists. Jaroslav Hubl stopped 43 of 48 shots for Bolzano to keep the score reasonable, while David Rautio had a 9-save shutout for Linköping.
Nottingham Panthers 1-10 Lulea Hockey
For the first four periods of their CHL adventure, the Nottingham Panthers held their own against clubs from two of Europe's top leagues. In the second period Saturday, however, Lulea exploded for six goals to open up an 8-1 lead. The final score was 10-1, as Lulea has a perfect 6 points after two road games. Karl Fabricius scored the CHL's third hat-trick, while Stephen Dixon and Cam Abbott both had 4-point games.
"I think this wasn’t our best game," Lulea coach Joakim Fagervall said afterward. "We made a good start, but then the Panthers played a little better than us. Our tempo dropped in the second half of the first period and because of that the Panthers got back in the game. However, in the second we got some easy goals which of course, makes it easier for us. Of course I’m very happy with the win."
HV71 Jönköping 3-5 Red Bull Salzburg
Red Bull Sazburg led 2-1 after two periods in Group I action in Jönköping, but HV71 scored two goals early in the third to take the lead. The see-saw continued, though, and Red Bull responded with three in the last eight minutes to win 5-3. Ben Walter's second of the game on the power play with 4:20 remaining was the game-winner, while John Hughes recorded 2 assists.
To come in to this building and beat a team like that, is a huge win to us," said Red Bull forward Brett Sterling, who used to play for HV71. "Especially after our loss against Jyväskylä. We could easily have won that game. It was another great game from us, Two in a row against two great teams."
TPS Turku 2-1 HC Pardubice
Visiting Pardubice got a goal midway through the first period by Jan Semorad and it was the game's only goal until the third period, when TPS scored twice to take the game 2-1. Ryan Lasch tied it in the 44th minute and then Czech Radek Smolenak scored the winner on the power-play with 2:07 on the clock to hand Pardubice its second-straight one-goal loss. TPS improves to 2-0.
Kai Suikkanen, head coach of TPS: "I'm very happy with these points since it could have gone either way," TPS head coach Kai Suikkanen said of the close game. "We had so many power plays in the second period and got no reward but we just cooled down before third and managed to get those goals."
After his team's second straight 2-1 loss, Pardubice head coach Zdenek Venera simply stated, "I'm very disappointed in this result because I think we deserved some points tonight."