Lukko Rauma gave their fans their first taste of 2023/24 Champions Hockey League victory in their 3-1 win over the Belfast Giants while the Aalborg Pirates did their best to upset defending Champions Tappara Tampere but fell short in OT by a 2-1 final.

For Aalborg, their impressive play against one of the top teams in the competition speaks for itself. The Danish outshot and, in some sequences, even outplayed their Finnish opponents and so should take this momentum into their match-up against Lukko.

Some areas Aalborg could look to tweak, however, are in the efficiency department. The Danes had a lowly 3% shot efficiency despite pelting Tappara's netminder with 30 attempts and also went 0/3 on the powerplay.

Lukko had their own close contest against Belfast but showcased their ability to score in all situations – capitalising on the powerplay and at even strength – and came away with the win. The Finns also managed to kill off both of Belfast’s man-advantages and edged the team from Northern Ireland in the faceoff dot 27-20.

As they prepare for their bout with the Danes, Lukko would do well to force the play by finding ways to generate more high danger shots. Aalborg’s George Sørensen was outstanding in net stopping 21 of 23 Tappara shots, so exploiting his weaknesses will be a priority.