This season is Adler Mannheim’s seventh in the Champions Hockey League and Red Bull Salzburg’s eighth. Despite that, this is the first-ever meeting between the two clubs in the competition. In their six previous attempts, Mannheim reached the Round of 16 three times but have never advanced further. Salzburg reached the Semi-Finals in 2018-19.

In their only two previous games against Austrian opponents, Mannheim defeated the Vienna Capitals twice in 2019/20. This will be their second home game this season against an ICE team after defeating HC Bolzano 4-2 on Thursday. Next week, they hit the road to Finland, where they will face reigning CHL Champions Tappara Tampere and Lukko Rauma.

Salzburg opened their schedule on Friday, losing 4-0 to Skellefteå AIK in a game the Austrians badly underestimated. Following these two away games, they will play at home next week against ERC Ingolstadt and the Stavanger Oilers. This will be Salzburg’s first CHL game against a German opponent since being defeated by Red Bull Munich in the 2018/19 Semis.

In Adler's opening victory against Bolzano, David Wolf, Linden Vey and defenceman Jyrki Jokipakka all recorded two points. Salzburg are still looking for their first goal of the season after being shut out in their opener. Paul Huber was the only Salzburg player able to record two shots on goal in that game, David Kickert, the veteran goaltender of the Austrian national team, stopped 29 of 33 shots.