Friday's four games all had scenarios where teams could advance to the Round of 32. It happened in three games, while a couple of more teams will have to wait.
IFK Helsinki 1–4 EV Zug
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After a scoreless first period, which was played rather defensively other than a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage for IFK Helsinki in the early going, Zug opened the scoring early in the second. Just 20 seconds in, in fact, Robin Grossman intercepted a clearing attempt and fed Carl Klingberg, who fired it off the post and in. Later in the period Klingberg got the play started for Zug's second goal. Nicklas Backstrom stopped him on a breakaway, but he recovered the puck behind the net and fed Jarkko Immonen in front, who fired it home.
Teemu Eronen got IFK on the board a minute into the third period with a beautiful wrist shot on the power play, but any momentum they may have got from that when Zug answered on a power play of their own less than two minutes later – right off the faceoff, Lino Martschini fired it in.
That took the wind out of the sails of IFK Helsinki, who had trouble generating much offence after that and took two penalties. Immonen's second goal of the game into an empty net sealed the victory and the spot in the Round of 32 for EV Zug.
TPS Turku 3–1 Bili Tygri Liberec
The White Tigers actually started strong in the first period, but they ran into a hot goalie in Alexander Georgiev, who stopped all 10 Liberec shots he faced. At the other end, TPS got in front with a pair of great individual plays. First at 4:50 Jasper Linsten made a nifty move to flip the puck over goalie Roman Will from close range to open the scoring, then 11 minutes later Dave Spina was slashed from behind on a breakaway and got a penalty shot. On the shot he fired a perfect shot into the roof of the net to make it 2-0.
In the second period again Liberec held a slight edge in play but the teams traded goals. Vladimir Svacina got Liberec on the board when he one-timed a nice pass from Michal Bulir, but just 1:31 later TPS had their two-goal lead back when Spina fed a nice pass to Jesse Duda, who sent a high wrister through a screen and past Will.
There was no scoring the rest of the way in a game that saw tempers get the better of players, particularly in a fight late in the second period between Jonne Virtanen and Adam Janocek, with both players dropping their gloves and squaring off.
HC Davos 3–1 Djurgarden Stockholm
After several great early chances, the first goal came on the power play with Perttu Lindgren converting Marc Wieser's centring pass and firing it into the roof of the net at 10:16. Then in the second came another push from Davos. Tellqvist continued to make saves, and one puck ended up in the net, although directed in with a skate so it was no goal. Finally, in the last minute, a long-range wrister from Mauro Joerg found room over Tellqvist's glove and it was 2-0.
That breathing room was needed, as Djurgarden came with an expected offensive push in the third period. They outshot Davos 13-6 over the final 20 minutes and managed to draw a couple of penalties. It took only seven seconds for the club from the Swedish capital to strike on the first one, as Robin Press's shot was deflected out of mid-air by Calle Ridderwall and in with 12:35 to play. They got another power play soon after, and it began to feel like momentum was shifting, but Davos killed it masterfully, with Lindgren getting a shorthanded breakaway, only to be denied by Tellqvist.
Tellqvist did all he could throughout the game, but in the last two minutes, on a Davos 2-on-1, Wieser's pass attempt was deflected by Swedish defenceman Press and into the net to restore the two-goal lead. Overall, Tellqvist stopped 28 of 31 shots, while at the other end Gilles Sen was solid when needed, stopping 25 of 26.
Linkoping HC 4–3 JYP Jyvaskya
A fast start from Linkoping, and in particular from Broc Little, staked the home team to a 2-0 lead after 15 minutes. First he pounced on a loose puck in the neutral zone and scored on a breakaway in the eighth minute, then on the power play he parked himself at the side of the net and one-timed Niclas Bergfors's pass in.
To their credit, however, JYP fought back. Just two minutes after the 2-0 goal, Mikko Kalteva drove to the net and directed Henri Kanninen's pass past Marcus Hogberg. Then early in the second period they tied it when Antti Suomela capitalized on a turnover in the Linkoping zone and fired it home.
The second period ended 2-2, but Linkoping regained the lead early in the third, Emil Sylvegard scored a beautiful goal on a spin-o-rama play, scoring on his backhand. They then defended their lead well the rest of the way, with Niklas Persson scoring what turned out to be an important insurance goal into the open JYP net with 46 seconds to play. That's because, right after the faceoff, Robert Rooba made a great individual play and scored to once again close the gap to one. That's as close as they would come, however.