Fate has brought these two contenders together for a second time this season, this time for two games with a place in the Quarter-Finals up for grabs! The first time these two met was in mid-September when SaiPa Lappeenranta beat Dynamo Pardubice 3-2, but how will this aggregate-scoring series play out across two games? Let's see!
- Pardubice finished 4th in Regular Season Standings, SaiPa 13th
- SaiPa beat Pardubice 3-2 earlier this season
- Pardubice unbeaten at home so far this season
Czech Extraliga side Pardubice enter this tie in fine form. With a 5-1 record, they finished 4th in the Regular Season Standings and made a name for themselves with their rock solid defence and dependable goaltending. Adding to that is their excellent special unit play that sees the Czechs boast a Top 5-ranked PP unit (27.27%) and the second-best PK (92.86%) in the CHL heading into the knockout rounds.
Pardubice have been perfect at home and aside from a 3-2 loss to SaiPa on Game Day 3 played some very convincing games against a mix of European competition, often dictating play for prolonged periods of time. Lukáš Sedlák (3G, 4A) and Matěj Stránský (3G, 3A) have led the offensive charge up front and will be looked towards to keep up Pardubice's strong scoring output and PP that has been important in how they operate.
On the other hand, SaiPa, who returned to the Champions Hockey League for the first time since 2016, were tested by teams from Czechia, Sweden, Austria, Slovakia and Denmark over the course of the six-game Regular Season. With a 3-3 record, the Finns were a bit hit and miss. Mostly strong on the puck, great with speedy plays, but at other times making costly mistakes.
Losses to Frölunda Gothenburg and HC Pilsen stand out as the two negative outliers, as the Finns let in six on both occasions, and with a negative +/- overall, SaiPa have been a bit loose on the blue line and in net - areas they would do to improve on if they are to hold off Pardubice once again!
The positives include the already mentioned 3-2 win over their current Round of 16 opponents that saw the Finns even go 3-0 up in the game at one point. Though the Czechs outshot and outplayed SaiPa in most stats by the time the final buzzer sounded and also really pushed in the final period, coming very close to taking this one to extra time, SaiPa weathered the storm and held on to the win.
All in all, even though Pardubice enter this match-up as the favourites on paper, and in very fine form following a strong Regular Season, they are coming up against the only team that denied them a win so far this season so whatever SaiPa did, they did it right. We're excited to see how this one turns out!