As it stands now, this is a meeting between the top two teams in Group C. They played a close game in Jyväskylä on the opening night of the CHL, with JYP taking it 3-2. After taking the maximum 9 points from their first three games, JYP are probably set to advance regardless of what happens this game, although surely they’d like to inch closer - their magic number as far as clinching is 4, and they could clinch on Saturday with a win combined with a Vienna win over Neman.

“We have taken one step toward advancing, but each step from this point on we have to work for,” JYP assistant coach Jukka Ahvenjärvi said after Thursday’s 3-1 win in Vienna. “You have to earn every victory. The most important thing now is the quick turnaround. Tomorrow we travel (to Zug) and then Saturday we have to be ready to play again.”

For Zug, a win would go a long way to solidifying their position in the top half of the group, and they believe they can beat JYP, especially at home. After the game in Finland, forward Viktor Stalberg said: “I don’t know if JYP were better. I think it was a pretty even game - in the third period we were probably the better team and the second was pretty even. It could’ve gone either way. We had some chances in the third to win the game on the power play.”