Swiss giants ZSC Lions Zurich will host the Straubing Tigers in their Return Game of the Champions Hockey League Round of 16. Zurich enter the contest in a solid position and holding a two-goal aggregate lead against the German contenders.

It's a good position to be in considering that both teams experienced a hiatus last year, and prior to that (during the 2022/23 CHL season), both teams exited the Round of 16 on account of Swedish teams, Skellefetå AIK and Frölunda Gothenburg. While there may be a sight of relief to have avoided these Nordic powerhouses, the battle to qualify for the CHL Quarter-Finals remains.

Although Straubing had the advantage of home ice during the First Game, the Swiss took charge of puck possession outshooting their rivals 29-22. Despite the relatively low number of penalties on both sides, the visitors performed better on special teams. A flawless penalty kill, combined with half the number of penalty minutes, and a 25% conversion rate on the powerplay gave Zurich a formidable edge. 

It was a particular line that did the bulk of the damage for the Swiss side. The stellar duo of Denis Malgin (2G, 1A) and Sven Andrighetto (1G, 2A) potted three of Zurich's four goals on the night. Their performance keeps both forwards ranked among the top three players for plus/minus contributions with +7 over five and six appearances respectively - for reference Fribourg-Gottéron's Marcus Sörensen continues to lead players overall with +9.

Towering Finnish forward Juho Lammikko was another vital contributor who's success on the dots saw an incredible face-off win of 64%. Between the pipes, and although it wasn't his best performance, Czech netminder Šimon Hrubec made 20 saves to collect a 90.91% SV% which sees him slip from the third-ranked netminder to seventh league-wide.

Despite a sluggish first period, Straubing mustered an excellent second period besting Hrubec twice to bring the game back into contention. Frustratingly for the hosts, the Swiss didn't give away much, a single penalty the whole night provided minimal opportunity for the Germans to ramp up their powerplay unit, which ranks as the third-best in the league. Grittiness, however, is an underestimated factor and Straubing excelled here, blocking more shots, and making more hits.

The capacity to rattle some goals out of Hrubec cannot be underestimated and should give Straubing confidence that improving goal generation is well within their wheelhouse. Defensively, Straubing have struggled, and are giving up an average of 2.57 goals per game which places them as the 15th-ranked team in the competition. 

This challenge is reflected in the netminding statistics of both Zane McIntyre and Florian Manuel Bugl who are mid-ranked among goaltenders with SVS% of 89.25% and 88.89% respectively.

Upfront, Straubing will be looking toward their top point-getters to fill in the gaps. The likes of Danjo Leonhardt (2G, 2A), Justin Scott (4A), and defencemen Marcel Brandt (2G, 3A) and Alex Green (4A) are going to play big roles if their team is going to have any chance at a Quarter-Finals revolution.

With the bulk of the offensive damage coming from two forwards in the line-up of Zurich, Straubing are going to need an alignment strategy to tackle three big areas: containment of Zurich's top scorers, the capacity to find the back of the net early, and meticulous discipline.