- There’s not a lot separating the teams in Group G, with just four point between first and last place
- Red Bull won one and lost one on their recent road trip, including a 5 – 2 win over Cardiff
- Cardiff earned a point in their last meeting, but will hope to cause an upset in their first road trip of the season.
Red Bull Salzburg host a Champions Hockey League game in the Eisarena Salzburg for the first time this season, as they welcome the Cardiff Devils, for a rematch of both sides opening games. A great first period from Salzburg helped the Austrian side to the three points last Thursday, but they’ll be weary of their British opponents who held their own despite the loss.
After the teams successful start to their road trip, they picked up their first loss of the tournament in a 5 – 2 loss to the Växjö Lakers as Austin Ortega put on a dominant display for the Swedish champions.
Lukas Herzog was the stand out player for Salzburg in their first meeting with the Devils last week, stopping 38 of 40 shots, but he sat out their loss to the Lakers, so head coach Greg Poss could return to the 25-year-old Austrian when they play host to Cardiff on Thursday.
The Devils on the other hand managed to grab a point against SC Bern on Saturday night in an overtime loss, and with a lot of travelling fans coming with them, they’ll hope to pull off an upset. Ben Bowns has been incredible the Devils net once again, and the team will look to continue their impressive defensive efforts on Thursday night, led by veteran Mark Richardson who picked up player of the game honours in game one.
In their opening games, the teams powerplay looked lethal, and if it hadn’t been for two great netminders in Herzog and Leonardo Genoni of SC Bern, they could have executed more, so you can bet they’ve watched the game tape to try and find a way past Lukas Herzog this time around.