Read below for information on the Round of 32 series between Frolunda Gothenburg and ERC Ingolstadt. Frolunda won 6–5 in overtime on aggregate to advance to the Round of 16.

Game 2

One of the more improbable results from the first leg was in Ingolstadt, where the hometown Panthers erased an early 2–0 deficit against last year's CHL finalists and beat Frolunda 4–2. They maintained their two-goal lead through 40 minutes in Gothenburg, tied 1–1, but Frolunda came alive in the third. They outshot Ingolsadt 14–2 in the period and scored twice – Elias Falth early and Lukas Bengtsson very late, on a one-timer just 11 seconds before his team would have been eliminated. Not to be outdone, Ryan Lasch scored an amazing goal in overtime on a brilliant individual effort to put Frolunda through to the next round. 

“An incredible feeling. I love to score a goal, whether it's late or early in the game or somewhere in between, but of course a goal of this importance feels extra good to score,” Bengtsson said of his late equalizer. “It feels truly fantastic that we managed to turn it around to our profit and are advancing to the next round. Ingolstadt were shockingly good, to be honest, and played a really great game today as well. They didn't gave up any space at all and really torn us apart from neutral zone into their defensive zone.”

GAME HIGHLIGHTS | LIVE BLOG & STATS

Game 1

Frolunda are known as one of the top teams in Europe, so when they started this game by absolutely dominating Ingolstadt and scoring twice in the first 5:35, it looked like they might run away with it. However, Tim Pielmeier took over after that and stopped the last 43 shots he faced – 49 in all. Then it was time for Ingolstadt's offence to show itself, and they scored four straight goals to take a 4–2 lead into the second half of this home-and-away series.

"We had tons of chances, but couldn't score. This is a hard loss and we are very disappointed," said Frolunda captain Joel Lundqvist.

"Frolunda's first goal was a little shock for us and they had the momentum," said Ingolstadt head coach Manny Viveiros. "In the first intermission we said that we wanted to play more aggressive and we also made a little change in the lines."

"Ingolstadt deserves this win, because in the second and third periods they worked harder than we did," admitted Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg. "In the second period they found the energy to win the game."

Ingolstadt's 2-point man Alexander Barta summed up, "We had too much respect in the first period, but in the second and third period we showed that we can play good hockey, too. So this is a good position for the game in Gothenburg."

GAME HIGHLIGHTS | LIVE BLOG & STATS

Preview

Two of the most famous names in both of their respective countries, Frolunda Gothenburg and ERC Ingolstadt are set to face-off in what promises to be an explosive contest between two of the most feared offensive units in this year’s CHL. Both teams are perennial championship contenders in the domestic leagues. ERC Ingolstadt, last season’s defeated DEL finalists made it one step further than Frolunda, who fell in the SHL semi-finals to the Vaxjo Lakers. Interestingly, Ingolstadt played, and defeated Vaxjo in this year’s CHL, as the two teams were drawn together in Group O, however, the Lakers eventually finished as group winners. The most recent contests between Frolunda and Ingolstadt came three years ago in the European Trophy pre-season tournament. In a couple barnburner games, Ingolstadt claimed an 8–5 victory in 2012 with seven goals being scored in the first period alone. A year later, Frolunda returned the favour a year later with a 7–3 win. Based on their group stage form, you would not put it past both these teams to score a similar amount of goals in their Round of 32 clashes.

Closer look: Frolunda Gothenburg

(4-0-0-0, 12 points, 20:5, 1st in Group N)

One of only four teams to make it through the CHL Group Stage with a 100 percent record, Frolunda Gothenburg are at the top of their game and are a team to be feared. Four victories, and a CHL joint-leading 20 goals through the round robin stage, Frolunda mean business. If there is an answer to stopping Frolunda, it starts with staying out of the box. In four Group N games, Frolunda’s power-play scored 13 times, four more than any other CHL team. Whenever the Swedish side have needed a goal, the power-play has come up trumps, notably in Game Day 2, where Artturi Lehkonen’s third period game-winner against JYP came on the man advantage. Blessed with a wealth of attacking talent, Frolunda have two players in the top ten CHL point scorers (Henrik Tommernes and Ryan Lasch). Tommernes was instrumental in the 4–1 victory over JYP on Game Day 4, which secured Frolunda’s place in Basket 1 as group winners, as the Swedish defenceman had three assists. Frolunda finished the group stage with a 4–1 victory over the Sheffield Steelers, a closer game than the 9–1 drubbing Frolunda inflicted on their British opponents on Game Day 1.

Andreas

Johnson

1+5, -2

 

Top Forward: In a situation like this it’s difficult to not pick the 20-year-old, tremendous stick-handling sniper, Andreas Johnson. If you followed last season’s CHL you are definitely familiar with Johnson, who (together with Norwegian Mathis Olimb) dominated the show and collected 25 points  in 12 games. He had a difficult time putting the puck in the net during this pre-season but now has 6 points already in the CHL. Be aware, this guy will definitely score more points. On a team full of dangerous scorers, other players to watch out for are American Ryan Lasch, Canadian Spencer Abbott, and Finn Artturi Lehkonen.

 

Henrik

Tommernes

3+5, even

 

Top Defenceman & CRAMO Top Scorer: After failing getting a spot in Vancouver Canucks for two seasons, 25-year-old Henrik Tommernes has returned to the club where he started his professional career and spent five seasons before he went to North America. He’s a great all-round d-man with a great offensive mind. He scored a hat-trick (+1 assist) in the 9–1 win against the Sheffield Steelers and with the group stage finished he’s the top scoring defenceman and third-highest scorer overall with 8 points.

 

Lars

Johansson

92.73 %

 

Top Goaltender: 28-year-old Lars Johansson is starting his third season in Frolunda Gothenburg and has really gotten to prove that he deserves starting goalie job. The two previous seasons he and Linus Fernstrom pretty much split the job, alternating almost every game, but Johansson managed to out-compete Fernstrom in the playoffs and became the starter. This season he’ll battle with former U20 World Champion (2012) and Senior World Champion (2013) Johan Gustafsson, who's back in Sweden after two seasons in North America. Johansson started in three group-stage games and won all three with a 92.73 save percentage and 1.33 goals-against average. He will most likely start at least one of the games, if not both.

Click here for team statistics.

Closer look: ERC Ingolstadt

(2-0-0-2, 6 points 16:15, 2nd in Group O)

ERC Ingolstadt came into this season’s Champions Hockey League desperate to improve on their 2014–15 showing. After finishing joint-bottom of Group H, the Bavarian side appear to have carried the form which saw them reach the 2015 DEL Final, through the summer. The story of Ingolstadt’s CHL campaign so far has been the performance of Petr Taticek and John Laliberte. Through the round robin stage, the two Ingolstadt forwards are the CHL’s two top point scorers with 9 and 10 points respectively. Each scored twice in Ingolstadt’s opening game against the Braehead Clan, which the German side won 5–2. Despite Game Day 3’s 4–2 loss to eventual Group O winners, the Vaxjo Lakers, Ingolstadt rallied back in the return leg a week later. A three-point night by Laliberte helped Ingolstadt on their way to a 5–3 victory over the SHL Champions, setting up an all-or-nothing clash against the Braehead Clan in Scotland to decide Group O’s top seed. However, with the score tied at 4–4 with a minute to go, and Ingolstadt needing a regulation win to leapfrog the Lakers, the Clan scored two empty-net goals to defeat Ingolstadt and keep the Germans in second place. 

John

Laliberte

4+6, even

 

Top Forward & CRAMO Top Scorer: John Laliberte is currently the leading scorer in the whole CHL with 10 points, and Ingolstadt also have the No. 2 scorer in Petr Taticek. The duo were really scoring at an impressive pace in the group stage, but the other three lines can also play better and create more danger in front of the opponents' goal. The power play was very good in the group stage, scoring on on third of their advantages. Furthermore, they have the best shooting percentage in the CHL, with 16.16 % of their shots find their way into the net.

 

Patrick

McNeill

0+5, +1

 

Top Defenceman: There are still things to improve on defence, as Ingolstadt allowed too many goals against during the group stage, but they did get several offensive contributions from their corps of defencemen. Patrick McNeill has been very important on the power play so far. Coach Manny Viveiros calls him the quarterback, and that makes him a player that Frolunda will have to be careful of.

 

Timo

Pielmeier

87.88 %

 

Top Goaltender: Both Ingolstadt goalies have played well in the Champions Hockey League so far. German national team goalie Timo Pielmeier can even play better than he did in the group stage and backup Marco Eisenhut played well when he got the chance, too. Pielmeier will likely get the call against Frolunda, and he's likely to get a lot of work. If he plays at the top of his game, he is capable of stealing a game for Ingolstadt. 

 

Click here for team statistics.