Leksands IF were hoping to keep the momentum going after a win in their Champions Hockey League debut on Friday night, but they hosted Oceláři Třinec who were coming in looking to bounce back after a disappointing loss in their opening game.

It couldn't have been a better start for the visitors, it took just 17 seconds for Třinec to find the back of the net. David Musil put a puck towards net, and Leksand had left Andrej Nestrašil all alone in front to screen goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo, and Nestrašil redirected the effort from in close, giving Třinec an early 1-0 lead.

Leksand did find a shooting rhythm as the period went on but couldn’t turn any of their 28 attempted shots into goals, with Marek Mazanec stopping the 10 that found their way towards net, and Třinec held their one goal lead into the second period.

An early powerplay in the second period was all Leksand needed to get on the board. They won the face off and straight away played the puck between the defencemen, and Matt Caito put his shot through traffic, beating Mazanec to tie the game at one a piece. 

The goal gave the hosts confidence as just a couple of minutes later they took the lead as Carl Själlin delayed on his shot attempt just long enough to get the defenceman out of the way, and the puck had a clear lane to the back of the net to make it 2-1 to Leksand.

The hosts really turned on the heat in the second period, peppering Mazanec with pucks as he faced 22 in total in the period, stopping 19 of them to give Třinec a chance heading into the final period just down by one.

Třinec seemed to be weathering a storm in the third period, but not really finding many chances of their own until just after the midway point.

A turnover in the neutral zone ended on the stick of Erik Hrňa, who played the puck to Daniel Kurovský who had built speed, and he broke through to go in on Kaskisuo, putting his shot up and over the blocker to tie the game at two.

But any hopes of a comeback were dashed with just over five minutes left to play. Some extended pressure in the offensive zone saw Leksand go to work, Mikael Ruohomaa thread the puck through two defenders to find Oskar Lang, whose quick release left Mazenec with little chance at stopping it and giving Leksand a late lead.

With Mazanec on the bench for the extra attacker, Třinec tried as hard as they could to find some late heroics to level the score again, but they couldn't find the breakthrough they needed as Leksand held on to take a 3-2 victory.