TPS Turku have advanced to the Round of 32 with a 3-1 home-ice win over Bili Tygri Liberec. Read more in Gamecentre.

TPS Turku are through to the next round and almost certainly the Group H winners after their 3-1 home win over Bili Tygri Liberec, taking five of six possible points overall from the Czech champions.

The White Tigers actually started strong in the first period, but they ran into a hot goalie in Alexander Georgiev, who stopped all 10 Liberec shots he faced. At the other end, TPS got in front with a pair of great individual plays. First at 4:50 Jasper Linsten made a nifty move to flip the puck over goalie Roman Will from close range to open the scoring, then 11 minutes later Dave Spina was slashed from behind on a breakaway and got a penalty shot. On the shot he fired a perfect shot into the roof of the net to make it 2-0.

In the second period again Liberec held a slight edge in play but the teams traded goals. Vladimir Svacina got Liberec on the board when he one-timed a nice pass from Michal Bulir, but just 1:31 later TPS had their two-goal lead back when Spina fed a nice pass to Jesse Duda, who sent a high wrister through a screen and past Will.

There was no scoring the rest of the way in a game that saw tempers get the better of players, particularly in a fight late in the second period between Jonne Virtanen and Adam Janocek, with both players dropping their gloves and squaring off. 

"We had a difficult start in the first period and it's a wonder we ended up leading after the first 20 minutes," said TPS coach Ari-Pekka Selin. "In the second period our offence improved and they matched us defensively. In the third, penalties made the period really scattered. Our goalie was great tonight."

Ultimately, Geogiev was the story in the game, stopping 33 of 34 shots in the TPS net. At the other end, Will stopped 19 of 22.

"I don't think we palyed a bad game," figured Liberec head coach Filip Pesan. "We had a lot of trouble with discipline, but I don't think we were worse than them. We had a lot of chances but didn't score. Those two things – lack of discipline and scoring efficiency – are the reasons we lost the game."

Liberec now need a win in Lorenskog on Tuesday to guarantee their place in the next round – otherwise they'll be on pins and needles watching the last game in the group between TPS and Lorenskog.

"Lorenskog will be tough in their home arena and we will play our best," Pesan concluded.