Kometa Brno host Luleå Hockey in the Return Game of their Champions Hockey League Round of 16 match-up. By virtue of winning the first game 6-1 on home ice – thanks to a five-goal outburst in the third period – Luleå start the game with a five-goal lead on aggregate.

Luleå spread the scoring around in the First Game, with no player recording more than two points. That’s consistent with their performance throughout the CHL this season, with no player recording more than Mathias Bromé’s seven points – Bromé’s six assists are tied for fifth-best in the competition, while three goals each by Brian O’Neill and Eetu Koivistoinen lead the team.

Playing with the lead, Luleå’s focus might be on defence and, to that end, their top shot-blockers are defencemen Jesper Sellgren with 13 and Frédéric Allard with 11.

On the other hand, Kometa will need to get their offence going, and they can take some comfort from the fact that goal-scoring wasn’t a problem in the Regular Season. Though they missed most of their star players on the road in Sweden, so far this season, Šimon Stránský and Hynek Zohorna are the team’s top two scorers with six points each. David Moravec scored the team’s lone goal last week – his team-leading third in the CHL.

While Kometa face an uphill battle, coming back from a five-goal aggregate deficit to win has been done before – notably by Luleå in the 2014/15 Round of 16 against Red Bull Salzburg, en route to the European Trophy they lifted later that season.