The last game of Group H was a winner-take-all affair in Zurich between the ZSC Lions and KAC Klagenfurt. The scenario was set up by Klagenfurt’s overtime win last week in Austria, but the Lions were determined not to allow that to happen again this week and started strong.

The Lions peppered Klagenfurt goalie David Madlener with shots in the early going but they didn’t beat him until halfway through the opening period when Robert Nilsson perfectly teed up a one-timer from Fredrik Pettersson. Then a couple of Klagenfurt penalties allowed Zurich to pour on the pressure and on the power play Pius Suter found a loose puck and put it past Madlener to make it 2-0.

Klagenfurt tried to battle back into it in the second period but three more penalties greatly took away from their offensive chances. When Drew Shore made it 3-0 in the 29th minute, with Pettersson and Nilsson both recording their second points of the game, it nearly put it away.

In the end, Klagenfurt were not able to beat Lukas Flueler, who stopped all 24 shots he faced to record the shutout and vault the ZSC Lions into the Round of 16.