The most interesting story remaining in the 2022/23 Champions Hockey League Group Stage is in Group E, where three teams enter the final day of play with a chance to grab the very last spot remaining in the Round of 16. Two of those teams are the Stavanger Oilers and Ilves Tampere, who clash in Norway in a rematch of their encounter in Finland a week ago.

In that game, Ilves got off to a fast start with three goals in the first eight minutes to take a 3-0 lead, eventually cruising to a 4-1 win, led by two goals from Joonas Oden. It was a huge victory for Ilves, who would have been eliminated with a loss. As a result, they now sit third in the group, one point ahead of the Oilers and one below Red Bull Salzburg, who at the same time as this game will visit group winners Fribourg-Gottéron. A win by Salzburg would send them through and eliminate both the Oilers and Ilves. Beyond that, there are many scenarios at play, with even a three-way tie possible.

Since last week, the Oilers won both of their domestic games. With four straight wins, they are starting to recover from a slow start and now sit fourth in the Norwegian Ligaen standings. Dan Kissel, who scored the Oilers’ lone goal against Ilves last week, is the team’s top scorer domestically with 11 points in nine games. In the CHL, Bryce Gervais leads with three points. Being such a big game, Henrik Holm will be the expected starting goaltender.

Ilves are also hot domestically, having won both Liiga games they played this past week. They now hold the top spot in the league with 24 points in 11 games. Petri Kontiola is hot with 10 points domestically, although he has yet to score a CHL goal. In that competition, Joona Ikonen and Tommi Tikka are co-leaders with four points each. Czech Marek Langhamer is the team’s starting goalie and got the win last week.