Over the course of their first four Group E games, both Ilves Tampere and the Stavanger Oilers would like to have done better. Out of 12 possible points available against Fribourg-Gottéron from Switzerland and Red Bull Salzburg from Austria, Stavanger earned five and Ilves just three. Each only won once – Stavanger in regulation time and Ilves in overtime, and each also earned some points in overtime losses.

The bad news is they sit third and fourth respectively in Group E. The good news is they are both still alive, but in order to advance, one of these teams will probably have to win both of the remaining two games. They meet this Tuesday in Finland and then next Wednesday in Norway.

In contrast to their showing so far in the Champions Hockey League, Ilves have started their domestic league season on fire. Through nine Liiga games, they have 18 points to lead the league early. Their most recent game was a 3-2 shootout loss at home to HPK Hämeenlinna on Saturday. Petri Kontiola is off to a blazing start with eight points. He has two in the CHL, trailing Joona Ikonen and Tommi Tikka with three each. In both competitions, Czechs Marek Langhamer and Jakub Málek have shared the duties in goal, with Langhamer getting about 60 percent of the load.

Despite being defending champions and their status as perennial powers in Norway, the Oilers sit fifth in the 10-team Ligaen with 13 points in seven games. American Dan Kissel leads the team domestically with nine points, followed by Canadian Colton Beck with seven. Beck played 11 games for Ilves at the end of last season, so he’ll fill his teammates in on what to expect from their opponents these two games. Henrik Holm has played most of Stavanger’s games this season but it’ll be interesting to see if Finnish backup Joona Partanen gets the start in his home country this game.