In a clash of two debuting teams, Lahti Pelicans welcome Lausanne HC for the team’s first ever CHL trip to Finland. Lausanne come off the back of a 3-2 defeat to Minsk, where despite a two-goal comeback in the third period, they were unable to finish the game off in OT. Even though they lost, all wasn’t bad – summer signing Josh Jooris scored Lausanne’s first ever CHL goal and had a very good game.

Lahti Pelicans had a somewhat different match, as they were able to hold off Extraliga Champions Oceláři Třinec 1-0 thanks to Hannes Björninen’s powerplay goal in the third period. Regardless of what the scoreline suggests, Lahti struggled offensively mainly in the first period, as Třinec outshot them by 22 shots to 5. But you don’t need to score goals when you have such an amazing goalie like Tomi Karhunen covering your back. The 3-time Liiga champion only joined Lahti this season, but with countless years of Liiga and KHL experience, he had no problem saving a whopping 45 shots to shut Třinec out.

The tie looks slightly in favour of Lahti, but after such an amazing comeback by Lausanne, you would make a mistake by counting them out.