Lugano through to last 16 with tie in Pilsen

HC Lugano celebrated reach the last 16 in their first CHL season after a relatively comfortable 7-4 aggregate win over Czech side HC Pilsen.

A good start for them home side saw them with the better of the early chances, with Top Scorer Dominik Kubalik testing Lugano netminder Daniel Mankato early on. Pilsen wasted an early powerplay but did get the crucial early goal - Jakub Lev shooting from the blue-line and finding a way through Mankato's five hole to put his side ahead with 7:51 played. That goal put Pilsen back to within just two of their NLA opponents, however Lugano restored parity on the night not long later - Riccardo Saratori's shot was parried by Lukas Sochurek in the home net, and Patrik Zackrisson beat the defense to the puck to fire home at 9:47.

The sides started the middle period all square on the night, meaning Lugano had their three-goal lead on aggregate and that Pilsen really needed to get the next goal. It was however the visitors that scored it, with Greg Hoffman's shot from near the top circle zipping past Sochurek at 26:49. Pilsen could have been forgiven for giving up at that point, now four behind overall, but didn't and rallied to tie the game just past the halfway park of the match - Petr Kodytek scoring his first senior goal to level the scores in the game.

Needing to score the first goal as the teams entered the final period, Pulsen had a couple of half-chances early on in the third but Lugano looked relatively comfortable. The visitors added to their three-goal cushion with just over 12 minutes to play, Raffaele Sanity receiving the puck with far too much time and space above the crease to fire in top shelf at 47:39. A late tying goal from Tomas Svoboda meant that Pilsen didn't lose on the night, but fell 7-4 on aggregate.

"We won the series over the two games, so it's good, and while we would liked to have won tonight it wasn't so bad that they equalised as the series was done. In the CHL so far the puck has been going in for me a bit more but overall I'm just concentrating on my own game no matter who we're playing and in what league it is" said forward Patrik Zackrisson after the game in which he scored his third goal of the tournament. His coach, Doug Shedden, added: "It was a tough game, they battled hard and I think our penalty kill was probably our MVP in the end. By the end of the game we were comfortable knowing we'd won on aggregate so it didn't break my heart too much when they scored the equaliser".

"Our primary goal was to advance into next round, so although that didn't happen we were satisfied to at least not lose the game in the end", said Petr Kodytek, who scored his first senior goal for Pilsen in the game. "They were great on the puck, played physically, which was tough for us especially and they skated very well."