HK Nitra secured their place in the Round of 32 with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Stavanger. Read more in Gamecentre. 

Nitra, who only needed a point to make the next round, piled the early pressure on their Norwegian visitors and were eventually rewarded when Lukas Paukovcek followed up his own rebound to shoot into the net!

Stavanger got themselves more into the game in the middle session and were duly level with 23:50 played – Josh Soares's backhanded effort went through Nitra goalie Michal Valent to tie up the score. Nitra, however, hit back just under five minutes later – a wonderful long pass from Marek Slovak found Tibor Kutalek, and his shot flew into the net, although Henrik Holm would probably want it back as his glove hand wasn't quick enough to the puck.

That lead carried through for Nitra into the final period, which was a tight affair. With 1:45 to go Stavanger pulled Holm out of the goal to go with six skaters, and came exceptionally close to equalising – just a post getting in their way. A late high-sticking panelaty on the Oilers saw them needing to replace their goalie, and Nitra controlled the remaining time to hold on for the win.

“The game looked like the one in Norway,” Nitra coach Andre Kmec began. “There were phases of the game when we were better and others where they were. The players seemed a little bit nervous. They knew we had it in our hands and we could qualify. In general, we played really well against tough opponents who skate really well. We're glad we've been able to hold our own and win against teams of this calibre.”

Nitra forward Marek Slovak said, “We went into the game with the aim to qualify and we wanted to do everything for it. Simply, we went for the win. After two periods, we told ourselves that we would fight for it and we would defend it. We did it - the Norwegians put on the pressure pressure, but we held on. I think the three points are deserved.”  

“It was a difficult game,” said Stavanger coach Pal Gulbrandsen. “We started the first period a little bit sleepy but got better as it went on. It's hard to win a hockey game if you score only once. We had a lot of opportunities to score but we did not succeed in the key moments. It was hard battle, the boys fought with all their might, but it was not enough in the end.”