The Stavanger Oilers and Malmö Redhawks are both looking for their first points after coming up empty in their first games, as both believe they should have done better. The Oilers were very much in their game against Kometa Brno, but couldn’t generate enough offensive chances and lost 2-1. Malmö, meanwhile, blew a 4-1 second-period lead in Kuopio and lost 6-4.

“I thought we struggled to manage the puck this game,” Oilers’ coach Pal Gulbrandsen said after the first game. “I thought we played well the first 10 minutes of the first period, and then we started well in the second, got the goal and a few other chances, and late in the game we had the chance on the penalty shot and missed. Overall we have to keep that up over a full 60 minutes.”

“We’re not going to change, we are going to start to play like we played the first two periods,” said Redhawks forward Tuukka Mäntylä. “We are going to talk about this game so we learn from it. Of course, if we are leading, we have to put the game away and play smart.”