The first three quarter-finalists are all from Finland, as IFK Helsinki, Lukko Rauma, and SaiPa Lappeenranta advanced on home ice. IFK got a dramatic late goal, Lukko actually lost to TPS but prevailed on aggregate, and SaiPa needed a shootout to eliminate Geneve.

SaiPa Lappeenranta 5–2 Geneve-Servette

SaiPa win 5–4 (SO) on aggregate | WATCH highlights here

With the teams tied at four goals each after 130 minutes of hockey, including 10 minutes of sudden-death overtime, the quarter-finalist from this series was decided in a shootoot. There Jesse Mankinen and David McIntyre scored, while Jussi Markkanen stopped all four shots. Johan Larsson had a huge game for SaiPa, assisting on all four of his team's goals, while McIntyre also chipped in with two assists. Noah Rod's goal with just 56 seconds left in regulation time forced the series to overtime. 

"The game was tough for us, but we kept playing our offence and it paid off in the end," said Larsson, whose offence played a big part of the victory. On his accomplishment he said, "I think I had a four-point night a few years back with HPK Hämeenlinna. I think I scored two goals and had two assists that night."

Lukko Rauma 3–4 TPS Turku

Lukko win 8–5 on aggregate | WATCH highlights here

It seemed like an impossible task for TPS Turku, after losing by four goals on home ice, to try to reverse that on the road. But they got off to a good start with two goals in the first 12 minutes. Lukko regrouped in the first intermission, however, and out-scored TPS the rest of the way to secure a quarter-final berth. Ryan Lasch led TPS offensively, as he usually does, with two goals and one assist, while Olli Sipilainen's shorthanded goal in the first minute of the third period turned out to be the series aggregate winner.

Despite advancing to the quarter-finals, Lukko weren't very pleased with their game at home, particularly the start. Assistant coach Juha Vuorhi commented afterward, "The way we started the game the first few minutes wasn't what we were looking for. In fact we tried to dig the whole game to get back playing the way we wanted. This wasn't the best of us."

IFK Helsinki 3–1 Fribourg Gotteron

IFK Helsinki win 5–3 on aggregate | WATCH highlights here

The two teams tied their first game and it remained that way for a long time in the second game too. But on the power play with just 3:18 remaining in the third period, Jasse Ikonen re-directed a pass from Robert Leino past Benjamin Conz to put IFK in the lead. Ikonen was the only IFK shooter to beat Conz in the game, as he tied the game in the second period after Christian Dube had opened the scoring early for Fribourg. Conz stopped 30 of 32 shots in the game before Tomas Zaborsky wrapped up the game and series with an empty-net goal.

The hero of the night, Ikonen, called his series-winner "one of the most important goals of my career." As for the way the game progressed, he said, "At the start I think we were pretty nervous about the score and how the game was going to end. Fribourg was slightly better in the first period but in the second and third periods we managed to get control of the game."