ZSC Lions Zurich stayed perfect against the Straubing Tigers this season, carrying over their Regular Season success against the Germans into the Round of 16 where they dispatched them with an 11-3 aggregate victory.

Their challengers, Eisbären Berlin, experienced a hard-fought series from EIHL club the Sheffield Steelers but were able to overcome the British side, achieving a 9-5 aggregate win.

Both Berlin and Zurich sport similar stats on offence, with the teams scoring an average of 3.88 goals for per game. But after this, it's all Zurich with the Swiss manufacturing the better goals against average (1.63), the better powerplay conversion rate (24.24%), and the better PK (84.62%). All this to say, Zurich - who also have two of the top five scorers in the league in Sven Andrighetto (5G, 8A) and Denis Malgin (6G, 6A) - enter this Quarter-Finals series as the favourites.

But upsets have been the story of every CHL season so far, and every series brings with it the unpredictable.

For this to be the case, the German side will need to lean on their leaders. Leonhard Pföderl was instrumental in Berlin's victory over Sheffield with the forward registering five points (1G, 4A) through the two games. His play along with fellow forward Blaine Byron (5G, 3A) and blueliner Kai Wissmann, who has eight assists through eight games, will be the focus of the German side as they've been the three through which Berlin's offence has run the entire season.

Maintaining their production, however, will be a challenge against a Zurich squad that has allowed the fewest goals per game with just 1.63. But if Berlin are able to find their footing with these three leading the way, victory is not out of the question.

However, the Swiss and their ability to dictate the pace of play and frustrate their opponents' chances is second to none in the CHL, and they have good reason to believe they'll be moving on to the first-ever Semi-Finals in their eighth CHL campaign since the inaugural 2014/15 season.

To help them get there, they'll have the likes of a responsible defenceman in Santtu Kinnunen who is currently tied in plus/minus with +10 and a more-than-capable netminder in Šimon Hrubec who is the only netminder this season to stay undefeated having played in six or more contests. With these two, in addition to the aforementioned forwards in Andrighetto and Malgin, expect Berlin to have a difficult time finding a way to expose any weaknesses in the Swiss side's game.

Zurich will ready up for their second helping of German hockey in the Playoffs as they look to maintain their excellent play, while Berlin will have an uphill battle against one of the Champions Hockey League's finest in this year's campaign.