Play got underway from the BCF Arena with Fribourg-Gottéron drawing first blood against visiting side Ilves Tampere on the powerplay 3:16 into the contest.

Tempers flared in the opening minute of the game as five penalties were handed out, including three to the visitors, affording the Swiss side their first man-advantage of the match-up.

A slap pass led to a one-timer from the right circle which pinballed around the crease and eventually landed on Janne Kuokkanen's stick who swatted it past an unsuspecting Ilves netminder Marek Langhamer.

The script flipped in Ilves' favour in the second, however, when the Finns found the net for their first goal of the CHL courtesy of Tommi Tikka. The Helsinki-native who was part of the pair of Ilves players penalised in the first, wired the equaliser past Reto Berra 48 seconds in.

A little later in the middle stanza, both goal scorers would again find themselves in the celebration circle.

Fribourg took a precarious lead as Kuokkanen scored his second, this time shorthanded. The Finnish side would answer right back, however, with Tikka managing to get his second marker on the powerplay.

Third period action began with Ilves on the powerplay as Matthias Rossi's minor penalty spilled into the final frame, but Fribourg's penalty kill was up to the task.

Hearts stopped when Fribourg's Christoph Bertschy had a breakaway near the 15-minute mark. The forward made a beautiful forehand, backhand deke but Langhamer shut the door as play continued.

Fribourg took their third lead of the game at 50:47 of the match when Rossi deflected the puck past the Czech netminder. Rossi was parked out in front where he managed to redirect a shot from Benoit Jecker for his first of the tournament.

Ilves continued to hound the offensive zone in the dying minutes as the Finns pulled for the extra skater. But Berra held his ground as Fribourg hung on to keep their Group Stage record spotless.