Vitkovice Ostrava win 5-3 at home to stay alive in the race for the Round of 32, and take the tie-breaker away from the Krefeld Pinguine. Read more in Gamecentre. 

Only a regulation victory would do for Vitkovice and that's what they got, winning 5-3 against the Krefeld Pinguine. It looked like it would be easy at first, then a little scary, but in the end they got it done.

On home ice, Vitkovice came out firing, scoring three goals in the first 10 minutes. Apparently the book on Patrick Klein was to shoot high, because that's where all three goals by Lukas Kucsera, Lukas Kovar and Roman Szturc beat him. But otherwise Klein was brilliant in the game. Two minutes after the 3-0 goal he stopped Kucsera on a breakaway, and overall he made 16 saves in the first period and 43 in the hockey game. 

Krefeld got one goal back in the second period on a perfect wrister from Marco Rosa, and they very nearly got another in the dying seconds of the period, as Patrik Bartosak appeared down and out while  Dragan Umcevic  had the puck in front of the net, but Bartosak's goal stick came out to rob  him and keep it 3-1. 

"It was a great game," thought Bartosak, who stopped 26 of 29 shots. "The guys played very well from the beginning to the last moment. The emperature in the arena was little higher than it should be, but great game. I wasn’t scared when they scored for the third time. I always believe in my and team's skills. I was sure that we'd win this game. We scored more goals in tonight’s first period then in last three games. The guys found their confidence, weren’t scared to take shots from the slot."

Krefeld really came on strong in the third period. They came within one on a power-play goal by Herberts Vasiljevs, but then Karol Sloboda returned the two-goal lead on a Vitkovice power play with a blistering slapper. Krefeld pulled their goalie with 2:30 to play, then had a 6-on-4 advantage after a Vitkovice penalty, where Mark Mancari deflected home Kyle Klubertanz's shot with 2:02 on the clock. Going for the point, which would clinch a spot in the next round, coach Franz Fritzmeier pulled Klein again, and Petr Kolouch put the game away with an empty-net goal.

“The first period was very good it all started with good game in our defensive zone, quick passing and a responsible game,” Vitkovice coach Jakub Petr began. “Then we started to lose concentration, had too many turnovers and took too many penalties. The third period was a bit better but we made a stupid mistake again and conceded a goal while playing shorthanded. The second period is something we have to look at before our next games, but other than that I’m satisfied with our performance.”

“I thought Vitkovice came out really strong and we had a strong start,” Fritzmeier countered. “The first two shots were goals, then the third goals came after a mistake, but then we battled back. The fourth goal was a bit of a killer after we survived the 5-on-3. We got one back and then it's always a gamble with the empty net ... that just means we need to win our next one.”

Indeed, the 5-3 final score means that Vitkovice holds the tie-breaker in case Krefeld get one point in Oulu. That makes it simple – if Krefeld win, they're in; if Karpat win, it's Vitkovice that go on.

“We dominated the game in the last period and we almost tied the game,” Fritzmeier continued. “It didn't happen so now we have to do it in Oulu. I think the group is really tight, all the games are close, and the truth is we need to get some points to go to the next round.”