After two games in the 2019/20 Champions Hockey League season, Group E is the closest fought in the entire competition, with two points separating the team at the top and bottom of the group. Finnish side Kärpät Oulu currently occupy top spot after securing four points from their two home games last week, while they’ll take on Grenoble of France, who despite coming in as huge underdogs in the group, currently sit in a tie for second spot after they picked up three points on the road last week.

It’s a rematch of Game Day one for the two sides who met last at the Oulun Energia Areena with Kärpät securing a 3-1 victory. They were re-joined by a former member of their junior system, as Jesse Puljujärvi suited up for the side for the first time since 2016 after he spent the last three-seasons in North America. It didn’t take long for the 21-year-old to make an impact, scoring the first goal of the competition for Kärpät less than three minutes into their opening game against Grenoble. With Kärpät giving both goalies Patrik Rybár and Justus Annunen game time, they’ve got two solid netminders to pick from for the return leg, and after Annunen stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced against Grenoble last time, you may see the Finns turn to him again for this meeting.

As the underdogs of Group E, Grenoble have had a great start to their season, putting in a good performance against Kärpät in the first meeting, and then shocking Skellefteå AIK in their second game thanks to goals from Damien Fleury and Joel Champagne, while Lukáš Horák stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced, only allowing one with just four seconds left in the game denying him a shutout. Fleury currently leads Grenoble in goals with two, while he’s tied on points with defenseman Antonin Manavian who has two assists in the competition so far, and they’ll need those two to continue their form if they are to make the most of the home ice advantage.