After an astonishing first game win against Bílí Tygři Liberec, the Belfast Giants have struggled. Their OT loss to the Augsburger Panther on Game Day 2 and heavy 6-1 defeat to Liberec mean they sit third in Group C. Despite only having a single win, the matches have proven to be very difficult group for their group rivals as well – Belfast are only losing a single point to second-placed Augsburg and 2 points to Luleå Hockey who are top of the group and with 3 games to go, everything is still up for grabs. But with Belfast’s remaining two games of the Group Stage being against Luleå, the Giants will look to score some vital points against Augsburg and repay them their overtime goal from Belfast that cost them a much-needed point.

Augsburg have become overtime specialists over the course of the first half of the Group Stage – thanks to goals late into the third period, they have been able to secure 5 points and at least a point from each match. Overall, they have managed to beat both Luleå and Belfast in OT, but despite tying the game 4-4 with just 39 seconds remaining, Luleå came out on top. Similar to the Giants, the Panther is also in a very difficult situation and they will certainly be playing for a 3-point win that would give them some overhead coming into their final two games.

Also bear in mind that after a slow start to the season, Bílí Tygři Liberec have picked up their first win and with their 3 points, they pose a real threat and can cause mayhem in the Group C standings if they win against Luleå – both teams are of course aware of this and no one wants to move down to bottom of the group.