After the Växjö Lakers took all three points against the Cardiff Devils last night, Red Bull Salzburg came into their road trip to face SC Bern needing just a point to secure a place in the Round of 16, while Bern are already through and looking to hold off a late surge from Salzburg who could go top of the group if results went their way on Gamedays 5 and 6.

In an effort to try and silence the home support, Salzburg dominated much of the possession in the opening 20 minutes, especially in the shot department, outshooting the hosts Bern 12–4, but Leonardo Genoni stood tall, turning everything way in the first period to leave it scoreless going into the middle frame.

Coming out for the second period Bern looked to find their feet in the game, putting more pressure on Salzburg and netminder Steve Michalek who had a quiet first period, but despite the pressure, they couldn’t get any quality scoring chances. The 25-year-old American goalie stopped everything he faced early in the second period, including a crucial pad save to deny Jan Muršak on a breakaway.

It was looking like it would be another scoreless period, but with just 48 seconds left it was the visitors celebrating. LGT Top Scorer Brant Harris added to his four points with his third goal of the Group Stage, as the puck found him alone in front to finally beat Genoni for the game’s first goal.

With Bern continuing to press in the final period, it took a while for them to finally break through, a shot bounced off a few sticks before settling nicely for Muršak for a back-door tap-in to tie the game up at one goal each with less than 10 minutes to go.

With a late powerplay opportunity, Bern couldn’t quite secure the three points with a go-ahead goal, but as the final buzzer sounded it at least meant that Red Bull Salzburg earned the point they needed to earn their spot in the Round of 16. Despite the extra room on the ice as the five-minute 3-on-3 overtime session got underway, neither side could grab the game-winner, forcing a shootout to decide who would take the extra point.

Each team scored once in the first five rounds, meaning it went to sudden death. With Salzburg shooting first and Thomas Raffl unable to grab a goal, Gaëtan Haas had a chance to redeem himself after mishandling on his first chance, and after a nifty move, he managed to bury the opportunity, sealing the extra point for the hosts.