These two teams were on opposite ends of one-sided scores on Gameday 1, with Djurgården Stockholm winning 6-2 in Tychy and the Vienna Capitals losing 6-1 at home to Adler Mannheim.

The Capitals have to be very disappointed with Friday’s performance. While it’s true that Mannheim have a talented roster, they were never really in the game and things aren’t going to get any easier against Djurgården. If they come up pointless from their first two games, they could find their chances of advancement escaping. In trying to match up, the Caps do have some players who have experience in Sweden although none of them with Djurgarden. One of them is goaltender Bernhard Starkbaum, who entered Friday’s game against Mannheim in relief of Ryan Zapolski. Another is Riley Holzapfel, one of the offensive leaders on this Vienna team.

Djurgården took care of business against a Tychy team they were expected to beat, and now they have to be expecting a tougher game in Vienna, where they will be facing opponents who are angry and desperate. While they don’t have any EBEL or Central European experience in their roster, they do have plenty of NHL experience, with names like Patrik Berglund, Jason Garrison and Jacob Josefsson to throw out there. On Friday, it was youngster Alexander Holtz who led the offence on this team with many weapons.