Genève-Servette host Ilves Tampere in a matchup of two teams who, after their games on Thursday, find themselves below the Champions Hockey League’s Playoff cut-off line. For two teams who surely have the talent to advance in the competition, this is a key game.

Genève have been involved in three one-goal games so far and two have been decided in shootouts, but they have only taken three of nine available points. In their home debut on Thursday, the defending European Club Champions outshot visiting Storhamar Hamar 39-18 but only managed a 3-3 tie through 65 minutes of hockey, before winning in a shootout. A key contributor was Czech centre Michal Špáček, who had two goals and an assist in regulation time and was also credited with the shootout winner.

His three goals and five points overall rank Špáček third in CHL points heading into Friday’s action. He is also one of only three players with two powerplay goals. Genève also have two players among the leaders in blocked shots in defenceman Simon Le Coultre (13) and forward Teemu Hartikainen (10). Sami Vatanen ranks second in average ice time at 27:04. Entering Friday’s action, Genève has the CHL’s top faceoff percentage at 64.13.

Ilves have only two points through three games from a shootout win over Polish club Unia Oświęcim and have lost a pair of games since, including a 7-2 drubbing at the hands of Lausanne HC on Thursday. On Saturday they face their third straight Swiss opponent, looking for their first points against them.

Offensively, Eemeli Suomi is Ilves’ shining light with five points, which is more than double the total of any other forward. Defenceman Daniel Gazda has four points and he also leads the team with 11 shots on goal. Suomi and Gazda are the team’s two ice-time leaders at 19:11 and 18:23, respectively. One of Ilves’ problems has been goals against – 14 in three games, which ranks them third-worst in the competition heading into Friday and gives them a minus-7 score overall.