In the competitive Group D, where three teams are essentially battling for two spots in the Round of 16, the winner of this game between Red Bull Munich and Rögle Ängelholm will take over top spot and go a long way towards securing their spot in the next round. That’s especially the case for Rögle, who currently lead the group with eight points and whose two remaining games are against the still-winless SønderjyskE Vojens. Munich currently have six and EV Zug are third with four.

After having won their opening games – Munich in Vojens and Rögle in a shootout at home to Zug and Munich at home to Vojens – these two teams went head-to-head at Catena Arena in Sweden on Gameday 2. That game saw one of the more dramatic finishes you’ll ever see for a game that ends in regulation time. Trailing 3-2 late and with their goaltender out for a sixth attacker, Marco Kasper tied the game at 59:40. Then, after being held from behind on a breakaway, Adam Tambellini was awarded a penalty shot and scored the game-winning goal at 59:54 to take all three points and leave the German visitors stunned.

With 14 goals, only Fribourg-Gottéron with 15 have scored more goals than Munich. Linemates Ben Street and Frederik Tiffels are currently the Champions Hockey League’s co-leaders in scoring with six points each, with the third member of the top trio being former CHL MVP Trevor Parkes. A fair bit of the line’s success has been on the power play, with Munich currently leading the CHL in that department with an amazing 66.67%. In goal, the Red Bulls have former German national team mainstay Danny aus den Birken, who is no stranger to success in the CHL and has been steady this season, although he was in net for the late collapse last weekend in Ängelholm.

Rögle are no slouches on offence either, with 11 goals scored, which ranks seventh. Their top scorers are forward Ludvig Larsson and defenceman Lucas Ekeståhl Jonsson with five points each. If the game gets physical, Adam Edström is tied for the CHL’s lead in hits with nine. In goal, Christoffer Rifalk has been strong in the two games against Zug with a 1.98 goals-against average and 93.1 save percentage, although youngster Calle Clang of the Swedish national junior team played last time against Munich and surrendered three goals on 22 shots.