Luleå Hockey hold a commanding position atop Group A after winning their second consecutive away game, this time 3-2 over Sparta Prague. Sparta are now in a precarious spot with two straight home losses – both times conceding the winning goal with less than 10 minutes to play.

Sparta got the first great chance of the game when Swede Gustaf Thorell hit the goalpost a minute in.

A few minutes later, Luleå opened the scoring when Einar Emanuelsson picked up the puck along the boards, spun away from a check, skated in and passed across to a wide-open Juhani Tyrväinen, who hit the open side before Jakub Kořenář could slide across.

But the pace slowed down somewhat after that, with the teams playing a cautious game. The visitors from northern Sweden held an 18-9 edge in shots through 40 minutes. With just under a minute to go in the middle frame, Luleå put on enormous pressure but were unable to increase their lead.

Early in the third period, Sparta tied it on the power play. Late in the man advantage, Jan Buchtele finished off a tic-tac-toe sequence with a one-timer after Ostap Safin provided a nice relay down low.

The goal seemed to inspire Sparta and their fans, as the building became noisier and the home side got some chances, but were unable to take the lead. Instead, it was Luleå regaining the lead with 9:12 to play.

Pontus Själin sent a high wrist shot from the point that Linus Fröberg deflected out of mid-air and into the net. Replay was checked to see if there had been a high stick, but the goal stood.

Once again down by a goal on home ice late in the third period, Sparta took their timeout with 2:27 to go and pushed for the equalizer. However, Oscar Engsund hit the empty net with 1:21 to play to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.

That turned out to be a big goal as Miroslav Forman scored a late goal for Sparta. However, there were only four seconds on the clock, which quickly ticked away after the centre ice faceoff.