Vítkovice Ridera entered the Return Game down a goal on aggregate and quickly fell down two, but then rallied for five straight to win the game 5-1 and the Quarter-Finals match-up with the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers 6-3 on aggregate. Tomáš Vondráček led the offence with three goals, all from within close proximity of the net.

The Lakers doubled their aggregate lead just three minutes into the Return Game. Vítkovice coughed up the puck trying to break out of their own zone and it was picked up by Jeremy Wick, who then dropped a pass to Dominic Lammer who beat Matěj Machovský with a long shot.

Late in the first period, Vítkovice began furiously pressing and forced Robin Meyer to make a couple of point-blank saves. They also thought they’d scored when Patrik Zdráhal swept in a loose puck, however, Rapperswil challenged the play for goaltender interference, which was upheld, negating the goal.

In the second period, though, Vítkovice scored three straight goals to take the lead both on the night and on aggregate.

Denied a goal in the first period, Zdráhal scored one that counted early in the second, circling the net and beating Meyer glove side.

Then a pair of goals from Vondráček made it 3-1 in the game and 4-3 on aggregate. Just shy of the game’s midpoint, Peter Krieger won a battle for the puck along the boards and passed back to the point for a one-timer from Lukáš Kovář, which was deflected in front by Vondráček. Then six minutes later it was a low shot from Mario Grman that Vondráček again got a stick on to deflect in.

The Lakers entered the third period down only one but did themselves no favours by taking a pair of penalties. The first one was killed off but a powerplay goal with 6:12 to go put Vítkovice in firm control. Willie Raskob’s shot from up close was stopped by Meyer but Vondráček was in place to put in the rebound to complete his natural hattrick.

Vítkovice had a first apparent empty-net goal called back due to offside, but Dominik Lakatoš put the final nail in the coffin with 11 seconds to go, securing his team’s berth in the Champions Hockey League Semi-Finals for the first time.