- Liberec through to Round of 16 with win; Davos out
- Lakatoš, Jašek & Adam Jánošík all 1+1
- Roman Will 27 saves, 90%
Bílí Tygři Liberec became the second team from Group E to qualify for the Round of 16, joining the Växjö Lakers, after a 4-3 home victory over HC Davos.
After a scoreless first period the deadlock was eventually broken through Dominik Lakatoš early in the second period. Liberec held the lead until a flurry of action at the end of the period. First, Broc Little tied the game on an absolutely brilliant individual effort, beating the defence and then going upstairs on Roman Will just under the crossbar.
“They’re a strong team and they dominated the first period and I'm glad we didn’t get scored on, then we got our game going and it was a battle of two young teams' mistakes.”Filip Pešán, head coach, Bílí Tygři Liberec
Milan Bakoš then put Liberec back in front on an upstairs goal of his own and with 10 seconds left in the middle frame, Davos was called for too many players on the ice. A great chance for the White Tigers to take a two-goal lead, but instead Marc Weiser got a shorthanded breakaway and beat Will with a wrister just as time expired. It however needed video review, which determined that the second period had ended before the puck crossed the goal line, so it remained 2-1 Liberec after 40 minutes.
Lukáš Jašek gave Liberec a two-goal cushion with 14:37 left, and ,although Samuel Walser pounced on a rebound to bring Davos back within one with 4:32 to play, Michal Bulíř's empty-netter appeared to put the game away, Nando Eggenberger scored again for Davos with 45 seconds to go to see the game finish at 4-3.
“We had a good start, but then Liberec started to play well and we started making mistakes... we lost our heads in the tricky stages of the game.”Arno Del Curto, head coach, HC Davos