On home ice, JYP Jyväskylä used a big second period to beat Oceláři Třinec 4-2, giving them a two-goal advantage heading to the Czech Republic. Defenceman Mikko Mäenpää scored twice.

It was Třinec, however, that started stronger. Cheered on by 150 travelling fans, they put all sorts of early pressure on Jussi Olkinuora, and at one point had a 13-4 advantage in shots. The first penalty of the game went to JYP’s Anton Stråka just past the midpoint, and after some great chances that just failed, Martin Adamský opened the scoring on a beautiful mid-air deflection of Jiří Polanský’s point shot.

JYP got their first power play late in the period and got some chances, and although they failed to score, carried that momentum in the second period, where they really took over the game. In the 25th minute, Peter Hamerlik stopped Jarkko Immonen on a breakaway, but less than two minutes later, they finally broke through when Robert Rooba’s high shot from the high slot through traffic found the back of the net.

JYP took over the game with three goals in a 2:15 span later in the middle period. It started when David Musil took a roughing penalty just past the game’s midpoint, and then Bohumil Jank was given a double-minor for boarding, which gave JYP a two-man advantage for 47 seconds. Mäenpää capitalized twice. First, his bullet from the point beat a screened Hamerlik to give JYP the lead. Less than two minutes later, Mäenpää struck again on the power play with a shot through a maze of players, this time with a wrist shot that went just under the crossbar. Finally, they got their fourth goal of the period 24 seconds later when Janne Kolehmainen’s shot from the point beat Hamerlik, who was again screened by a JYP forward.

Down by three, Třinec pushed hard at the start of the third period and got a goal from Tomáš Marcinko, who converted Vladimír Svačina’s centring pass. But try as they might, they couldn’t get any closer, meaning that they start next week at home down two goals – difficult, but not impossible.