Inti Pistoni's third-period goal was the only one of the game in Liberec, sending the ZSC Lions back home to Zurich with a one-goal lead halfway through their Quarterfinal with Bílí Tygři.

Despite the firepower in both lineups, the two teams played quite conservatively for two periods, with neither team wanting to make a critical mistake to fall behind. There were some chances at both ends, but both Jaroslav Janus and Niklas Schlegel were solid.

The White Tigers came out with more energy in the opening period, buzzing around the Zurich zone in the early minutes, but Schlegel had good sight of the shots he faced and didn’t give up any rebounds. They had their first good chance in the 13th minute when a one-timer from Michal Bulíř was followed by a goalmouth scramble, with Schlegel finally covering the puck. Zurich finally started pressing in the late going, thanks to a power play, and in the last minute Roman Wick’s centring pass found Chris Baltisberger in front, but he was denied by Janus in close.

Liberec got a couple of power plays in the middle period and they generated a couple of good chances on the first one. Martin Ševc’s slapper from the point was snared by Schlegel, and just as the penalty ended, Adam Jánošík hit the goalpost.

Fredrik Pettersson, the CHL’s co-scoring leader entering the game, had a good chance late in the second period and then tried to take matters into his own hands in the second minute of the third period, attempting the lacrosse move from behind the net that worked for Mikael Granlund in the 2012 World Championship, but he Pettersson didn’t manage to finish it. Three minutes later, however, he assisted on the game’s only goal, setting up Pestoni in front, who picked the far low corner of the net. The assist gives Pettersson the scoring lead by himself with 16 points. 

With under seven minutes to play, Lukáš Jaška got what was probably Liberec’s best chance of the game, taking a pass from Petr Jelínek with an open side of the net. However, he couldn’t pull the trigger quick enough and Schlegel slid across to rob him with a pad save.

There were a couple more chances in the last minute on a Liberec power play, but Schlegel stopped all 24 shots he faced for the shutout.