Fribourg-Gottéron weren’t particularly impressive in their first two Champions Hockey League games, but they came to play on the road in Austria from the opening face-off, turning a dominant start against KAC Klagenfurt into a 4-0 victory. Swiss national team goaltender Reto Berra was full value for the shutout even though his team was ultimately outshot during the game.

It took Fribourg just over a minute to open the scoring on a brilliant individual effort from Marcus Sörensen. Leading a rush into the zone, he faked a shot to freeze the defenceman, then went through players and put the puck over a sliding Sebastian Dahm.

On a Fribourg powerplay, Klagenfurt had a chance to tie it on a shorthanded breakaway by Matthew Fraser but Berra reacted quickly to stop him. Later on the same powerplay, Fribourg moved the puck around well but Dahm robbed Killian Mottet on a one-timer.

But two more goals just over a minute apart put Fribourg in firm control of the game. First, it was Samuel Walser forcing in a loose puck in the crease after Dahm had already made a couple of saves. Then Jacob De la Rose, going hard to the net, took a pass from Christopher DiDomenico on his backhand and made a move to his forehand to beat Dahm at 13:24.

After that, Fribourg didn’t press so hard to score, concentrating more on defence.

Just past the game’s midpoint, the Swiss visitors went up 4-0 when Jeremi Gerber won a battle for the puck in the corner and found Walser wide-open in front of the net for his second of the game.

Berra’s best save of the game came almost six minutes into the third period when he threw out his left pad to deny Raphael Herberger on a one-timer from point-blank range.

For the most part, however, Fribourg continued their solid defensive play, keeping the chances to a minimum even though much of the play was in their end.