The winners of last season’s Champions Hockey League looked every bit in mid-season form on opening night, winning 6-1 in Banská Bystrica.

The home team kept close for a while. Vainio opened the scoring for JYP by backhanding in a rebound at 1:09 but Ján Sýkora equalized six minutes later with a beautiful backhand that went top shelf. However, Alex Lindroos’s powerplay goal in the 11th minute put JYP back ahead and they never looked back. They added three more goals in the second period and one more in the third to lock up the road victory.