CHL - Results - Sunday, August 23, 2015 - Gameday 2

Add HC Litvinov, Skelleftea AIK and Red Bull Munich to the list of teams that have opened their CHL campaign with a pair of wins, virtually punching their tickets into the next round. Adler Mannheim also played their second game but managed their first win. Meanwhile, Linkoping HC opened their CHL campaign with a shootout win at home.

KAC Klagenfurt 1–4 Red Bull Munich

In two games Munich have gone into two hostile environments and grabbed 6 points against tough opponents, and are now in excellent shape in Group H. This game was a battle and remained scoreless for more than half of it before Manuel Geier got a fortunate bounce off the goalpost and the goalie's skate to make it 1–0 Klagenfurt. Munich immediately began pushing for the equalizer and got it late in the middle period thanks to Daryl Boyle's slapper. In the third, Dominik Kahun scored the winner early and assisted on a late empty-netter. They actually got two empty-netters and won 4–1.
“It was a really good and fast hockey game, although the season is still young,” said Klagenfurt coach Doug Mason. I think both teams had a good chance to win, but we missed too many power play opportunities today. “We've still got a lot of work to do.”
“At the beginning we were a little bit surprised how much pressure Klagenfurt put on us,” said Munich captain Michael Wolf. “But with every minute of the game we were getting better and better. Altogether, I think it was a deserved win for us.”

Vitkovice Ostrava 1–2 Adler Mannheim

After dropping their opener in Grodno, Mannheim desperately wanted a win in Ostrava to avoid falling into the basement of Group I with fewer games remaining than both of their rivals. Thanks to a goal by Martin Buchweisser on a rebound with under 11 minutes to play, the German champs avoided that. The goal came just minutes after Jan Kana had tied it on a Vitkovice two-man advantage. The home side put on enormous pressure in the last minute but Dennis Endras held the fort.
“We didn’t respond to the game tempo and their physical play until the third period, but that was too late. We had a lot of power plays in third period, but we capitalized on only one of them, a  5-on-3,” said Kana, the Vitkovice goal-scorer. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t score at the end. We had great chances, but their goaltender saved them miraculously. I was in the penalty box when they scored the first goal, so that was my mistake. At least, I made up for it with the tying goal. I had a lot of chances, so I should have scored more than just one. We have three more games to get better and improve ourselves in the group stage.”
“They played hard, they did a great job battling as did our players,” Mannheim coach Greg Ireland said about the game against Viktovice. “We ran into some penalty trouble, but I think our PK did a real good job and we didn't break. When you're playing as hard and intense as we are, it's going to be hard to give in. We have to keep looking at one game at a time. I think the level of play in the CHL is outstanding, the league has brought in the best team and it shows in the games.”

Bili Tygri Liberec 0–4 Skelleftea AIK

While the final score is not flattering to them, Liberec came out with a strong effort against one of Europe's top clubs, out-shooting Skelleftea 43–29. However, nothing they threw at the opposing net was able to beat Marcus Svensson, who was especially strong when he faced 18 shots in the second period, thanks to a string of Skelleftea penalties. However, not only were Liberec 0-for-8 with the man advantage, but they gave up 2 shorthanded goals, one of them into an empty net. Another late empty-netter made it a 4–0 final.
“We played against one of the best teams in Europe, we knew how strong Skelleftea are. We'd been practising to face their game quite a long time," said Liberec coach Filip Pesan. “I think that it was even game when both teams played at full strength. Unfortunately, Skelleftea took the lead on the power play because of a bad shift. Then we tried to change our style of play, which isn't always the best thing to do, we managed to get back to our bame but then they scored another goal on our power play. At the end we tried to do everything to score, but they scored two empty-net goals.”
“It was a tough game for us,” admitted Skelleftea coach Hans Wallson. “We played against a good team, but I think we played solid the whole 60 minutes. Lot of penalties and I think that was the key to winning this game, the way we killed the penalties and we also had a good power play. We are happy we found a way to win this game. We played two games on the road and won both, so it was a good trip for us.”

Linkoping HC 3–2 SC Bern (SO)

Linkoping pick up 2 points from their first CHL game, while Bern now have 1 after two – both teams trail IFK Helsinki, who lead Group A with 3 points. The game remained scoreless until midway through the second period, when Linkoping scored twice in a 2:10 span. Bern came back to tied it, however, with defenceman Eric Blum netting the equalizer with 6:36 to play. Andrew Gordon scored the shootout-winning goal, putting a nice wrister just under the crossbar.
“I think we played a good first period, and a somewhat good second period with a lot of chances that could have made it different than what it went. They got a late goal with a 5-on-3 against us. We have ourselves to blame that we didn’t take advantage of our chances,” said Linkoping captain Niklas Persson, who has faced Bern before when he played in the Swiss league. “They have a type of game that when they want to defend, they do it. It was pretty much the same style of play that I faced last season.”
"Our focus wasn't about looking for points, it was about starting better than the last game," said Bern coach Guy Boucher, who was impressed with his team's improved effort. "Today we wanted a strong first period, we stayed out of the box, and showed a lot of character coming back from two goals down. If we do win both home games it could give us a chance for the next round, but now we'll continue to gel and building a team as we have nine new players."

Espoo Blues 0–1 HC Litvinov

In Group F's second game there were lots of chances at both ends, but both the Blues' Christian Engstrand and Litvinov's Jaroslav Janus were strong, Engstrand made 27 saves and Janus 36. Only one player beat either one of them all game, and that was Litvinov's Peter Jansky on a rebound in the 33rd minute. Two minutes later, Jiri Sailio very nearly tied it but hit the post. The Blues had a chance on a late power play, but Litvinov managed to hang on for the win, which puts them atop Group F with 6 points.

Though his team wasn't able to score, Blues head coach Jyrki Aho was impressed with his team's defensive game, stating, “We were able to keep our opponents to fewer scoring chances than against any other team so far this season.” 

“We have a new goalie this season so games like this are good for building a link between defencemen and goaltender,” Litvinov captain Michal Travnicek said about Janus getting used to the new players around him. About the strength of the Blues team he added, “We had to play better than in Grenoble to win here. It's important to get two wins, especially since we haven't played at home yet.”