A sold-out crowd is expected at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena as the home fans arrive hoping to see ‘Believe Day’ unfold and continue the journey for the Panthers in Europe. The ZSC Lions arrive with a two-goal lead from the first leg, but the Panthers have been looking to other games in their own league where they’ve overturned bigger deficits on home ice. They’re also still unbeaten at home in this season’s CHL.

Buried within the Panthers’ fairytale ride in the Champions Hockey League has been personal sadness for Head Coach Corey Nielsen, who returned to Canada following the game in Zurich after his father passed away. In his absence, the Panthers recorded another unbeaten weekend with one regulation and an OT win sending them to the top of the Elite League.

“It’s happened here before in other competitions, and once the fans and atmosphere get going this is not an easy place to hold on to a lead,” said player-assistant coach David Clarke. “We showed in Zurich that we can play with them and got a goal, you need some luck, but when the building gets rocking anything can happen.”

A derby win over rivals Kloten, 5-3 on the road, was the Lions’ only game of the weekend as they continued to their NLA winning record to four straight games.

“We’ve given ourselves a chance, being two goals up, but we know it's going to be a tough game in Nottingham,” said ZSC head coach Hans Wallson. “They have a huge fan base, they beat Bern & TPS there, we know that's coming. But we're in the lead when the puck drops."