In the battle for the two playoff spots from Group D, both Třinec and HV71 head into their first of two meetings with destiny in their hands, but Třinec are closer to the threshold. With a three-point advantage, they can advance with 2 points, which they can either get this week in Jönköping, next week at home, or 1 point each game. HV71 has a tougher mountain to climb, needing to take 5 of 6 possible points – or possibly 4, but they’d need some help in that case. They must win at home, however, to keep their destiny in their hands.

The defending Swedish champs were projected to be the top team in the group, but two losses to Adler Mannheim have put them in this tight spot. However, they seem to have found their game in the early stages of the SHL schedule, as with 14 points they are tied for first with Färjestad Karlstad after six games. Without any dominant offensive performances so far – their leading scorer in the SHL and CHL combined is young defenceman Lawrence Pilut with 9 points, all assists, in 10 games – defence has been the key to their success. That’s started in goal, where Linus Söderström has a minuscule 0.98 and brilliant .960 save percentage after four SHL games played.

As for Třinec, they currently sit 4th in the Czech Extraliga with 14 points after nine games, although they’ve dropped two in a row heading into this encounter in Jönköping. Tomáš Marcinko has 12 Extraliga points and Martin Růžička has 7 points in four CHL encounters. Šimon Hrubec has played all eight Extraliga games in goal and three of four in the CHL.

These two teams met in the CHL Round of 32 in 2015/16, where HV71 came away winners, 5-3 on aggregate.