SaiPa Lappeenranta strung together their second victory of the 2026/27 Champions Hockey League season with a 3-2 win over Dynamo Pardubice. HK Nitra scored twice in the second and two more times in the third to take down KooKoo Kouvola for their first win.

Having only secured one goal in each of their previous two contests, Nitra's four-goal outing against the Finns was a welcome surprise. Michal Krištof led the way with two tallies and a whopping 20:54 TOI and netminder Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev was excellent in the crease. But going up against a team that's tallied ten goals in their previous two contests will be an entirely different challenge for the Slovakians. With this in mind, they'll need to prove that the defensive clinic they put on against Kouvola wasn't just a one-off.

Meanwhile, after falling to Frölunda Gothenburg on Game Day 1, the SaiPa have manufactured back-to-back wins, including a 3-2 victory over Dynamo Pardubice to hand them their first loss of the season. The Finns have been excellent with the puck on their stick as they're currently tied for fifth place in GG with 3.67, but defence has been a different story. When it comes to goals against, SaiPa are actually tied with Nitra at 3.33 GAG. If Nitra really have found their footing in the scoring department, the Finns will have to be sure they tidy up their blueline.