The Belfast Giants scored in the dying seconds of OT to take their game over Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 as Dynamo Pardubice also managed to play into the extra session but lost to Genève-Servette by a 3-2 final. The Czech side has already qualified for the Playoffs while Belfast still have a chance to sneak in as they currently sit with five points.

For Pardubice, a win would only cement their place in the Playoffs. The Czechs have been a dominant force all season as seen by their fifth-ranked powerplay (24.00%) and eighth-ranked penalty kill (86.36%). Pardubice have also enjoyed balanced scoring as evidenced by Tomáš Hyka who leads all forwards in scoring with one goal and five assists through five games while on the blueline, Peter Čerešňák currently has six helpers through five matches.

Looking ahead, the Czechs’ main goal will be solving Belfast’s excellent netminder in Tyler Beskorowany who is coming off back-to-back shutouts and sports an impressive 2.01 GAA and 93.06 SV%.

On the opposing bench, the team from Northern Ireland have started to find momentum behind their netminder’s stellar play and, except for their 6-0 loss to Tappara Tampere, have been competitive all Regular Season long losing by multiple goals only twice. But while their netminding has been winning them games, the team's lack of scoring could be a concern. So far, Belfast have only scored two or more goals once – their 4-0 victory over HC Bolzano – and are only managing 1.40 goals per game, second-worst in the league.

If the club hopes to extend their season into November, they’ll need to support Beskorowany by getting pucks in deep and finding ways to finish plays in the offensive zone.