The Rouen Dragons weathered the storm that was Red Bull Salzburg as they punched their ticket to the Quarter-Finals with a late tally by Rolands Vigners and a standout performance by the marvelous Matija Pintarič for a 4-3 aggregate final. 

Entering the Return Game of their Round of 16 matchup against Rouen, Salzburg needed goals and at the 15:58 minute mark of the first their climb out of a 3-0 aggregate deficit began when they took a 1-0 lead courtesy of their captain.  

Rouen’s Anthony Guttig was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which gave the home side their first powerplay of the night. 19 seconds into the man-advantage, Thomas Raffl coralled the puck near the crease before sliding it on goal where he collected his own rebound and wristed one past Pintarič, breaking the Slovenian’s shutout streak and giving the hosts some breathing room. 

Salzburg’s 16 shots dwarfed Rouen’s 6 as the Austrians carried their first lead of the series into period two. 

The second stanza saw Salzburg survive not one but two French powerplays as Finnish netminder Atte Tolvanen was up to the task.

Then, as if on cue, Salzburg scored their second of the contest 16 minutes into the middle frame to bring the home side to within one goal on aggregate when Raffl netted his second off a deflection from Keegan Stephen Kanzig's shot from the point.

After two periods, the Austrians had exceeded their shot totals from last week's match with 35. The French, meanwhile, were forced on their heels as they failed to produce any sustained offence of their own.

The final frame from Eisarena Salzburg began with the home side just one goal away from tying on aggregate as, up to this point, Rouen were living and dying by the performance of their backstop with Salzburg's pressure mounting. 

That pressure eventually manifested itself in the third tally of the night for the team in red and white. In his 47th CHL game, Jan-Mikael Järvinen scored his 37th CHL point and Raffl found his name on the scoresheet for a third time, as Salzburg leveled the aggregate score at 3 with 10 minutes remainging in regulation. 

Nearing the 5-minute mark, it seemed as if Salzburg's efforts would be enough to force OT until Rouen's first goal of the night would be an all-important one as Vigners tickled the twine with a shot from the point to give the visitors a 4-3 aggregate lead. 

The Austrians were awarded a powerplay with 2 minutes left, but despite their best efforts, the home side was unable to find the equaliser as Rouen became the first French team in CHL history to move on to the next leg of the competition.