As they used to be part of the same country, games between Czech and Slovak teams are always intense, regardless of the importance. This particular game, for visiting HC05 Banská Bystrica, is critically important for their chances of advancing past the CHL Group Stage. Simply put, they must win this game in regulation time and hope that JYP do not beat Lugano in regulation time in order to still have something to play for on Gameday 6.

As for HC Pilsen, they have already secured top spot in Group H, so they're mostly concerned with keeping their level of play up and trying to build on their CHL-leading point total of 12, mindful of the determining factor in deciding the host city of the CHL Final.

Domestically, Pilsen finished first in the Extraliga regular season last season and so far after eight games they're fourth this season with five wins and three losses – they enter this game having won two in a row and four of their last five. Banská Bystrica are the two-time reigning champions in Slovakia and are third after 12 games so far this season, winning eight and losing four.

Milan Gulaš is on fire for Pilsen to start the Extraliga season with 12 points in eight games. In the CHL, their top scorers are David Stach and Václav Nedorost have six points each, and Dmitri Milchakov and Dominik Frodl have split time in net fairly evenly. Banská Bystrica are led by several of their North American imports – American Stephon Williams gets the bulk of the work in goal, American defenceman Ben Marshall leads the team with 11 points in Liga play, and in the CHL, Canadian forwards Éric Faille and Guillaume Asselin have three points each. Banská Bystrica's Ján Sýkora and Branislav Kubka both played for Pilsen in the past.

This will be Banská Bystrica’s first game against a Czech opponent in the CHL, whereas two years ago Pilsen played HK Nitra twice in the Group Stage, losing both games.