Tappara Tampere came up with a textbook road effort in the First Game of their Round of 16 matchup with HC Davos. Netminder Christian Heljanko was perfect in goal, stopping all 22 shots he faced for the shutout, and he got plenty of help from his team in front of him. A second-period shorthanded goal from Petteri Puhakka was all the offence that they needed. Other than that one goal, Gilles Senn couldn’t be beaten in the Davos net either, making 24 saves.

Through the first half of this game, both goalies were perfect. After a relatively uneventful first period, Tappara’s Kristian Kuusela got a breakaway in the 27th minute, but some good Davos backchecking prevented him from getting a shot on goal.

At 28:23, Tappara got the game’s first powerplay and put on some good pressure but Senn and the Davos penalty-killers withstood. Then at 31:52, Davos got a powerplay chance of their own but it was Tappara that capitalised. Just after a shot was blocked in the Tappara zone, the puck slid out into the neutral zone and Puhakka caught up to it. Carrying the puck into the Davos zone, he used a defender as a screen and ripped a wrist shot past Senn.

Davos got another powerplay late in the middle frame and their best chance was a one-timer from Matěj Stránský that hit Heljanko in the shoulder.

Sensing the opportunity to carry a one-goal lead into the Return Game at home next week, Tappara played strong defence in the third period. As time ticked away, the home fans, loud all night, became increasingly restless and Davos tried to mount more of an attack but became increasingly frustrated. Tappara became more and more content to just gain centre and dump the puck into the Davos zone, sending the home side back to repeatedly regroup.

In the dying seconds, Heljanko fired the puck the length of the ice himself, and then stopped one last long-range shot just before the final buzzer before being congratulated by his teammates.