Neither Oceláři Třinec nor the Växjö Lakers have been beaten yet in regulation time this Champions Hockey League season. It’s also fair to say that neither team is entirely happy with how it's played to this point. When at the top of their games, these are two teams that could go very deep into the competition, and this could be the premier match-up of Thursday night.

Třinec, the five-time reigning Czech Extraliga champions, already have two of their away games out of the way and took five of six possible points, even if it wasn’t always pretty. They opened with a defensive battle against Lausanne HC, winning 2-1 in overtime on a powerplay goal by Daniel Kurovský. Then they started flat-footed in France against the Rouen Dragons and fell behind 3-1, only to storm back and win 5-3, thanks to three points each from Marko Daňo and fellow Slovak Libor Hudáček.

In fact, through the two Game Days, Daňo and Hudáček are the CHL’s co-leaders with five points each. On the defensive side, Marian Adámek leads the CHL with 12 blocked shots. As a team, Třinec have the CHL’s top powerplay effectivity at 66.67%. Add that all up, and it’s easy to feel confident about the team’s chances in this competition.

The Lakers have played two home games so far, opening with a 3-1 win over Eisbären Berlin, thanks to two points from Dennis Rasmussen. The next game, Rasmussen scored another goal but the game was an embarrassment, losing 3-2 in overtime to the Sheffield Steelers from Great Britain. It wasn’t even a case of running into a hot goalie – the Steelers outshot the Lakers 27-23 in the game.

Along with Rasmussen, Filip Eriksson also has three points for Växjö. On defence, Zach Giuttari has five blocked shots. While not as strong as Třinec’s clip, Växjö’s 33.33% powerplay still ranks them tied for fourth overall – although their PK of 50% leaves something to be desired.

Historically, the 2017/18 CHL season was memorable for both of these teams, as Třinec advanced to the Semi-Finals and Växjö reached the Final – both losing to eventual champions JYP Jyväskylä from Finland.