When KAC Klagenfurt hosted Tappara Tampere last Thursday, they made the most of their opportunities by scoring three goals on 15 shots to beat their Finnish guests 3-2. Following that, KAC shut out Frisk Asker 3-0 and Tappara were shut out 1-0 in Biel-Bienne, leaving both of these teams in unfamiliar situations – KAC lead the group with six points and Tappara are at the bottom with none. Things might start to “normalize” when the venues switch, however.

Tappara are one of several traditionally strong European clubs that have had a rough start in this year’s Champions Hockey League, losing to a pair of teams they would normally be expected to beat. They were both close games, however, and now that the team is heading home, they are confident that they can beat both teams and get themselves right back in the hunt. To do that, they’re going to have to start producing offensively. So far, the team has only scored twice and nobody has more than one point. They’re also going to need better goaltending than Christian Heljanko provided in Klagenfurt, although he did bounce back with a much stronger outing in Switzerland, where he stopped 26 of 27.

Klagenfurt thrilled their home fans with two regulation victories last weekend, but now they surely know that things will get more difficult, starting with this game on Friday night. If they can manage to take at least a point, they would win the head-to-head with Tappara, which would bode well for their chances of advancing from the group. One of the big reasons KAC are in this position is the goaltending of Norwegian international Lars Haugen, who is well experienced in this competition from his Färjestad days. Producing offensively so far has been the combination of Matthew Neal and Nicholas Petersen with four and three points, respectively.