On Tuesday the second leg in the first playoff phase, the Round of 16, will take place. Unlike the football there is no away goals rule, so it is just simply who scores the most goals over the two games.
Games where the first leg winner should take it
In three of the games one team scored significantly more than their opponent giving them the best opportunity of going through. Pilsen HC will play at home with a commanding 6-1 lead over Bolzano Foxes. If the Italians win it will be probably the greatest comeback of the CHLs history.
Tappara Tampere and SC Bern will need the home crowd with them and a great deal of luck be to beat their rivals, Kometa Brno and Malmö Redhawks who beat them 5-1 and 4-1 respectively in the first match.
So Czech teams Pilsen and Brno as well as Swedish Malmö will be favourites to go through.
Games that could go either way
However, in the other five games there were four ties. Only ZV Zug won against their opponents, Red Bull Munich, and that was a one goal game. That leaves all to play for in Tuesday's matches, below, with home team first:
Frölunda Indians (SWE)- Lugano
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)- Rouen
ZV Zug (SUI)- Red Bull Munich
Kärpät Oulu- Zurich Lions (SUI)
Skellefteå AIK (SWE)- Storhamar
I am going for the underlined teams to win, playing it safe with the Swedish and Swiss teams and with the possibility that there will be no Finnish teams in the quarterfinals. Rouen and Storhamar have the chance for the biggest upsets but will have there work cut out away from home against big name rivals.
We also might see several matches go over regulation with Sudden Death or Penalties as there must be a victor on Tuesday.
Top scorers
Naturally a number of the competition's top scorers will be in action, but some of them will play their last match in the CHL this season. HC Pilsen's David Stach still leads the Total Points competition with 11 (3G+8A).
But behind him are a whole raft of players with 10 points ready to take on the Czech international in the competition. That includes top goal scorer Nicklas Lasu (Kärpät), Lino Martschini (Zug), Patrick Thoresen (Storhamar), Nicolas Deschamps (Rouen), Mathias Olimb (pictured) and Joakim Lindström (Skellefteå), Ryan Lasch (Frölunda) and Jarkko Malinen (Tappara). Of course, these players will be looking for the team win, but be assured that they will also be putting the puck on net themselves hoping for rebounds, tips and goals off their own.
@ABritOnThinIce1
