Sunday was the day of the shutout, with four of nine games resulting in zeros. In the two Group G games on Sunday, KalPa Kuopio and Sparta Prague both won, meaning Sparta takes the group lead. JYP Jyväskylä, PSG Zlin and Lukko Rauma also posted wins.
Hamburg Freezers 0-3 Lukka Rauma
The second round of games wrapped up with Lukka Rauma blanking the Freezers 3-0 in Hamburg for Sunday's fourth shutout. After a scoreless and even first period, it was all Lukko over the last 40 minutes, as they out-shot Hamburg 29-16 and scored three times. Jerry Ahtola had 2 assists and Ryan Zapolski stopped all 26 shots he faced. Lukka is now tied with Lulea with 6 points each atop Group K.
“I’m feeling great," goaltender Zapolski said afterward. "The team played a very good, solid game. We won 3-0, but I think the game was a lot closer than that. We’re obviously very happy with that. We wanted to do our best to be very good defensively and that’s what we managed to do. This will be very good for us in the future as well.”
“We had our scoring chances and didn’t use them," summarised Hamburg captain Christoph Schubert. "We played against a top-flight Finnish team today and they showed why they are successful back home. They made things real tough for us. We wanted to come out today playing very aggressive in the defensive zone. It worked out well, but when you play a team like Lukko, they just don’t need a lot of chances in order to score. We got some things we’ve got to work on this week, cause we still have to play in Finland and Sweden. Our goal is to make the next round and we’re going to have to win on the road in order to do that.”
PSG Zlin 3-1 Djurgarden Stockholm
After a scoreless first period, Sebastian Lauritzen opened the scoring for Djurgarden on the power play early in the second period. However, PSG dominated the rest of the middle frame, out-shooting their Swedish guests 12-4 and scoring twice to take the lead - veteran Petr Cajanek assisted on the equaliser and scored the game-winning goal on the power play. An empty-netter made it a 3-1 final as Zlin moves into first place in Group D with 5 points.
"We expected a stronger opponent than in Berlin two days ago," Zlin coach Rostislav Vlach said about Djurgarden. "I think that the game was balanced, the difference was just that we used more chances and scored more goals. I am satisfied with the match and I must praise everybody, including the goaltender Libor Kasik."
"We are satisfied with the game and our team," said Djurgarden coach Hans Särkijärvi. "Zlín is a strong opponent. Our play and skating was really good in the first period. We had a lot of chances, but then in the second we took too many penalties, which really drained us. The game was even again in the third – there were many chances for us."
JYP Jyäskylä 2-0 Kloten Flyers
JYP Jyväskylä got power-play goals in the first and second period, then played solid defence to secure their second straight win in Group I, 2-0 over the Kloten Flyers. Defenceman Mikko Mäenpää opened the scoring on a slapper from the point at 2:36, then assisted on Eric Perrin's goal in the 36th minute. Tuomas Tarkki made 23 saves for the shutout.
"We were able to get our game to a much better level than on Friday," said Mäenpää. "Our defence was really tight actually for the whole 60 minutes. We were prepared for how they were going to play and didn't give them any extra room. We really succeeded on those things that we planned before game."
KalPa Kuopio 1-0 Adler Mannheim
KalPa Kuopio got a power-play goal from Jussi Timonen late in the first period and it turned out to be the only goal of the game. Visiting Adler Mannheim out-shot them 34-18 in the game, but goaltender Eero Kilpelainen stopped every shot he faced to record a shutout. KalPa now has 4 points in Group G, while Mannheim remains pointless.
"We have good chances to score, but their goaltender made a few good saves at the right time," said Mannheim coach Geoffry Ward. "Sometimes it's not how many saves you make but it's the saves that you make at the right time. He made saves at the right time for them. We're pretty satisfied with our game tonight. It was a much better effort that we had in Växjö on Thursday."
"At times we played really well," said the lone goal scorer Timonen. "We wanted to win this game and we did, so we feel great at the moment. There was a lot of speed and checks. It as a pretty physical game. It's great to play against great teams every night. There's something new in every game. I have positive thoughts about this league."
Växjö Lakers 2-5 Sparta Prague
In Group G's other game, Sparta Prague won 5-2 in Växjö to take over first place with 5 points. After trading a goal each in the first period, Sparta opened up a two-goal lead in the second and cruised to victory in the third. Lukas Pech had 2 goals and 2 assists and linemate Petr Kumstat had 1 goal and 3 assists.
"The win felt really good," said Sparta's Marek Hrabas. "I think we played a good game. The last game we had a pretty bad first period but tonight it was much better and I think we had great penalty killing and it was a good game. We know we have to shoot more. It's something we have to improve."