HC Lugano lead by three goals after a 4-1 home-ice victory over HC Pilsen. Read more in Gamecentre.

In a game where two teams were playing their first ever CHL playoff games, HC Lugano prevailed on home ice, 4-1 over HC Pilsen. 

There was a cautious approach to this game, with both teams feeling each other out over the opening period, without much offence or physical play, and no scoring. There was a sudden change at the start of the second, however, as Lugano came out with some jump and scored twice. First Damien Brunner's pass from the corner found Gregory Hofman going to the net and he one-timed it in. Then, on the power play, it was Tony Martensson with a great set-up for Linus Klasen to make it 2-0.

Pilsen got one back later in the middle period, as Miroslav Indrak pounced on a turnover in the neutral zone and sent Jakub Lev in. His perfect wrister to the blocker side beat Elvis Merzlikins just inside the post and it was a one-goal game with two of four periods played. 

That was the only shot to beat the Latvian goalie in the game, however, as Merzlikins stopped 19. At the other end, Matej Machovsky stopped 31 of 35 shots. 

Lugano scored twice more in the third period, 87 seconds apart. In what was becoming a recurring theme, a pass from the outside found a player in the slot for the one-timer – first Dario Burgler to Luca Spazzini to make it 3-1, then Alessio Bertaggia to Ryan Gardner to make it 4-1. Those were big goals, as they give Lugano an important three-goal cushion into next week's game in Pilsen. 

"Overall I thought we played a pretty good game," said Lugano coach Doug Shedden. "The score could have been a little bit higher, but to be able to go on the road next week three goals up is good for us. We've been playing well on the road in the CHL, but we're playing pretty good at the moment and want to make the next step. I'm happy, these games are tough mentally and physically, and we made good effort today."

"We played without four of our top players," said Pilsen coach Michal Straka. "We had a tough game on Friday too. Lugano have very good players with several Swedes and ex-NHL players, but we frightened them a bit with our young team. We want to win the series. Three goals down isn't an easy starting point but we'll give it our best shot."