- Two goals in the third period gave the Malmö Redhawks a 4 - 1 win
- SC Bern return home for the second leg with a lot of work to do
- The two sides meet again next weekend to try and hook a place in the next round
The Malmö Redhawks played host to SC Bern of Switzerland in their first leg clash of the Champions Hockey League round of 16, with the hosts
After a scoreless opening period, Malmö were the first on the board to get the home crowd cheering. Team captain Henrik Hetta carried the puck up ice, before ripping his shot off the cross bar and into the net past Leonardo Genoni for the games opening goal.
Bern nearly clawed it back to an even game just minutes later when a poor pass from Simon Ericsson sprung Simon Moser loose, but Lars Volden was equal to the task to deny him with a blocker.
After ramping up the fore-checking pressure after conceding, Bern managed to get their goal through Matthias Bieber midway through the second frame, a fantastic delay by Mark Arcobello to open up the ice gave him the chance to pass to a wide open Bieber for a back door tap in with just under 30 minutes left to play.
The Redhawks wasted no time in responding, as defenceman Malte Stekov finished off some great puck movement in the offensive zone with a lovely toe drag to open up the shooting lane, firing his shot into the back of the net to give the hosts the lead once more.
Matthias Bieber nearly grabbed his second of the game midway through the third period with a breakaway, but shot right Volden who recovered to keep out the rebound to keep the hosts ahead by one with time ticking away.
After a successful penalty kill, Malmö struck again, this time as Emil Sylvegård finished a quick rush up ice with a one timer past Genoni, before Anton Mylläri added a fourth in the dying minutes of the game, giving Malmö a three goal advantage to work with heading into the second leg.