It’s sometimes said that the biggest surprises can happen on opening night, and that seems to be the case in Group C. Both of these teams were probably expected to win their opening games – Luleå on home ice to a fourth-placed German team and Liberec in Northern Ireland against a team making its Champions Hockey League debut. And yet, here they are, heading into their second game looking for their first win. It might be too early to call this a “must-win” game for either side, but Luleå in particular want to avoid the hole of losing the first two games at home and having to make up ground on the road.

After winning the CHL in 2014/15, Luleå Hockey made their return to the European club championship after a two-year absence on Thursday night, falling in a shootout to the Augsburger Panther, so at least they have one point in the bank. They could have taken all three, but allowed a late equalizer to force overtime. Over the course of the hockey game, Luleå outshot Augsburg 29-20 but a lot of their attempts were blocked and they never made life really difficult for goaltender Olivier Bellavance Roy, so that’s something they’ll definitely want to work on if they’re to have success against Liberec. Like Augsburg, Liberec might be somewhat of an unknown entity for the home team, as they have no Czechs on their roster, nor any player who has played before in the Extraliga. Also, surprisingly Luleå have never faced a Czech CHL opponent before.

Bílí Tygři Liberec must be shaking their heads at their poor outing against the Belfast Giants on Thursday night. It’s not just that they got outscored, but were thoroughly outplayed in all facets of the game. Their problems stemmed from lack of discipline, with Belfast being awarded 13 power plays to only three for Liberec. With that kind of discrepancy, it’s no wonder Belfast outshot them 45-23, with Justin Peters needing to be solid in goal. If there’s a bright spot for Liberec, it’s that their power play did cash in twice, with Libor Hudáček finding the net both times. Hudáček spent three seasons in Sweden prior to signing with Liberec last season, so he's played in Luleå before and the home team will be familiar with him as well. But overall, better discipline will be needed if the White Tigers want to salvage anything from this road trip.