The Belfast Giants suffered their third loss of the 2025/26 Champions Hockey League campaign as they allowed seven goals against in their loss to Lausanne HC. Their opponents also gave up seven goals in their contest against ERC Ingolstadt, as EV Zug suffered their first loss of the season in a 7-3 defeat.

The Swiss were the favourites heading into their contest against the German challengers, having just bulldozed Grenoble 5-1 on Game Day 2. But what began as a promising two-goal lead eventually became a four-goal deficit for Zug as they allowed six unanswered goals by Ingolstadt before they were finally able to find their form on the powerplay.

One bad game shouldn't destroy their confidence, however, and suiting up against a club that themselves allowed seven tallies against, including three in the span of eight minutes, could put them right back in the win column. Considering the Swiss have one of the better Goals For (3.67), their scoring corps., led by former NHLer Tomáš Tatar (2G, 1A), will be the ones to watch.

Belfast need a break. Having given up seven goals in back-to-back games is not a message you want to send to the rest of Europe's elite. Consequently, it goes as no surprise that all eyes should be on their defence, but specifically their netminders who haven't played to their expected level so far. Both Alexis Gravel, who started in their previous contest, and Jackson Whistle, who let in seven versus Ilves Tampere need to be that last line of defence the team counts on to get them out of the many defensive jams they've been finding themselves in as of late.