In a game they needed to get back into the Playoff race, Oceláři Třinec defeated the Lahti Pelicans 3-1 to get their first win in four ties this season. It was Lahti's second loss in four games.

21-year-old goaltender Patrik Švančara, making his Champions Hockey League debut, made 29 saves and came within 14 seconds of a shutout. Prior to the game, Třinec were near the bottom of the CHL in terms of goals against and penalty-killing but reversed both trends in this game. They killed off all five penalties and scored a short-handed goal against the Lahti powerplay, which was missing a couple of key players today.

The first half of this game was very defensive. By the midpoint, the shots were 12-7 in favour of the Pelicans, who had received the game’s first three powerplays. However, Třinec made the most of their opportunities.

After a scoreless first period, Daniel Voženílek opened the scoring early in the second on a short-handed breakaway. It was just the team’s fourth shot on goal of the game. Then on Třinec’s sixth shot, they went up 2-0 when Libor Hudáček circled the net and centred to Marko Daňo, who buried a one-timer from the slot.

Midway through the second period, a pair of Pelicans penalties 26 seconds apart gave Třinec their first two powerplays of the game and an extended 5-on-3. They failed to extend their lead at that time. However, they went up 3-0 with just over three minutes to go in the middle frame. On a 2-on-1 rush, Kamil Walega’s shot beat Finnish national team netminder Jussi Olkinuora over the glove.

The Pelicans had their best sustained pressure over the last 90 seconds of the second period, hemming Třinec in their own zone and keeping possession of the puck. However, they were unable to land many pucks on net due to several blocked shots by the Czech team.

Lahti went to the powerplay for the fourth time early in the third period and went right back on the offensive, with Patrik Carlsson and Elias Vilen getting great chances but Švančara held the fort. The Pelicans continued to try to break through and finally did with 14 seconds to play when a shot from Leevi Tukiainen finally found the net. But there was not enough time to get anything more.