Lausanne HC will take on Ilves Tampere in front of their home crowd on Thursday night in what will be both teams' third game of the season. Though each side has recorded a win and a loss, their point tallies differ.

Lausanne suffered an overtime loss in their opener against Oceláři Třinec after conceding a powerplay goal, but bounced back with a 2-1 victory over Pinguins Bremerhaven. With 4 points, they currently sit in 10th place on the leaderboard.

Ilves, on the other hand, earned an overtime win against Unia Oświęcim but fell to ZSC Lions Zurich 4-1 on Game Day 2, leaving them with just 2 points and an unsteady 16th place. One area Ilves will need to focus on in their upcoming battles is their penalty kill, which has been shaky to say the least. On Game Day 2, their penalty kill efficiency was only 60%, and it wasn’t any better against Oświęcim. That's one area where they have significant room for improvement!

Additionally, goaltending has been quite a concern, with Dominik Pavlát posting a save percentage of just 79% against Oświęcim, which only improved to 86% when Jakub Málek took over in their second game. Despite these issues, Ilves have shown a willingness to shoot, having recorded 141 shots so far and outshooting both of their previous opponents.

Lausanne’s advantage lies in their disciplined play, as they’ve picked up only 4 penalties this season. This could play in their favour against the Finns, although frankly, Ilves have struggled on the powerplay so far. The Swiss, too, have room to improve with their man-advantage play, as they also haven't been able to benefit from many of their opportunities.

All in all, this match-up promises to be interesting, with both teams eager to remain on the qualifying side of the leaderboard.