The last five games on Saturday included a big win for Frölunda in Briancon, an overtime win for Färjestad in Zurich and a surprise win for Stavanger in Trinec on a day where visiting teams ruled.
Genève-Servette 4-2 Villach SV
After both teams won their first games, this was an early showdown for first place in Group C and Genève-Servette prevailed on home ice. They didn't do it the easy way, though, as Villach scored after just 14 seconds of play and were up 2-0 at the first intermission before Genève came back with four straight goals. Matt D'Agostini ignited the comeback by scoring to get his team on the board and then assisted on Tommy Pyatt's game-winner with 13:43 to go. Juraj Simek added some insurance just 35 seconds later.
"We started the game in the worst possible manner," said Eliot Antonietti, who scored Genève's second goal. "During the break, we came back together. We realised we had to stick to the game plan that our coach created for us. That's what helped us win tonight."
"The dream started for us after 14 seconds and the first period ended the same way," Villach coach Hannu Jarvenpaa said of his team's fast start. "We knew they would push harder then. We tried to be attentive and aware of this, but the home team was great. Hockey is a game of mistakes and we made three mistakes that led to goals. Genève has a strong defence and a solid attack. We didn't lose against a bad team. I am proud of my team."
Fribourg-Gottéron 6-3 Eisbären Berlin
The first goal didn't come until one second past the game's midpoint, but Fribourg scored three times in the last half of the second period, then the teams traded off goals in the third. Gregory Mauldin became the second hat-trick scorer of the day, with his last one going into the empty Eisbären net.
Briançon Diables Rouges 1-7 Frölunda Gothenburg
Briançon managed to hold off Frölunda for one period and the teams traded goals in the first six minutes of the second. After that, however, it was all Indians. Mathis Olimb scored on the power play in the 28th minute and that proved to be the game-winning goal. Andreas Johansson had an amazing game with 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points, while Elias Faith and Olimb also recorded 3 points each.
"This game was very difficult for us; Frölunda was of a far higher standard than us," said Briançon defenceman Florian Chakiachvili. "It isn't a surprise, we knew that we would have a lot of difficulty with this team. We managed to hold our own during the first period and part of the second, but after their third goal, we couldn't get back in the game."
ZSC Lions Zurich 2-3 Färjestad Karlstad (OT)
In Saturday's only overtime game, Färjestad Karlstad took 2 points to get themselves back into the Group B race on Milan Gulas's goal just 36 seconds into the extra period. Jakub Klepis assisted on both of Färjestad's goals in regulation time, while Chris Baltisberger scored both of Zurich's, including the equaliser with exactly 10:00 to play in the third period.
"Honestly it doesn't matter that I scored those two goals," said a dejected Baltisberger afterward. "We wanted to get those three points rather than score those two goals. That's unfortunate and in the end those penalties cost us the win. We definitely didn't start very strong, but I thought we got better during the game but as already said, those penalties broke our rhythm and two power-play goals cost us that extra point."
"I feel great, but it doesn't matter who scores the goal," said overtime hero Gulas. "It was a good game for us from a mental point of view because we needed this win. We previously had four games without a win and they (ZSC) played a very good game. It's the Champions League and we want to play well. The first game was very bad but today was a perfect game by the team."
Ocelari Trinec 4-5 Stavanger Oilers
Trinec outshot Stavanger 36-18 in the game, but the Norwegian visitors made the most of their opportunities, scoring 5 goals on Simon Hrubec, the Trinec goalie who recorded a 36-save shutout on Thursday. With the score tied 4-4 late in the third period, Nick Plastino scored his second goal of the game on a blast from the point on the power play with 4:50 on the clock. Christian Dahl-Andersen had 1 goal and 3 assists for Stavanger, while Radim Matus scored twice for Trinec. All four teams in Group E now have 3 points.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game," said Dahl-Andersen. "We are very proud of our performance. Earlier today we watched video from the game between Trinec and Bern. They have hard forechecking, they apply a lot of pressure all over the ice. Our plan was to avoid that and we succeeded."
"This game was definitely about skating," said Trinec coach Jiri Kalous. "We gave Stavanger a lot of power plays, which wore us down. We were always playing from behind. But I have to compliment the boys. They were fighting till the very end and tried to tie the score. Now we have a week before the next two games. We'll practice as hard as possible and get ready for the re-matches."