After opening on the road, the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers play their first home game of this Champions Hockey League season against Finnish club Lukko Rauma.

It’s been a very good start to the CHL season for Lukko, who are currently third in the Regular Season Standings with a +6 goal difference following a 3-1 home win over the Belfast Giants and a 6-2 away win over the Aalborg Pirates in Denmark.

As for the Lakers, the Swiss team currently find themselves right on the dividing line between advancing and not. They’re the only team with exactly two points, which they earned in a wild come-from-behind 7-6 overtime victory over Oceláři Třinec on opening night. They then lost 4-1 to Vítkovice Ridera two days later in the second half of their two-game road trip to northeastern Czechia.

The teams are comparable offensively, with Lukko outscoring the Lakers 8-7. Both of these teams are 33.33% on the powerplay, which ties them for third-best in the CHL. Lukko have been better defensively, however, and that’s reflected in their PK of 80% compared to Rapperswil-Jona’s 60%.

Lukko are led offensively by a couple of players with four points each: forward Tarmo Reunanen and defenceman Julius Mattila, whose four assists make him one of the CHL’s co-leaders in that department. For Rapperswil-Jona, forward Jordan Schroeder and defenceman Maxim Noreau each have three points.