Eisbaren Berlin
Eisbaren Berlin won the opening leg 4-0 at Mercedes-Benz Arena and got off to a positive start in Zug, but the Polar Bears couldn't convert any of their opportunities. As time passed, the home team started to be more and more dangerous and relatively early in the second period, Dominic Lammer made it 1-0 for the Swiss club with a nicely placed shot from the left circle.
After Zug's opener, they continued in their offensive effort, as they needed three more goals to tie it on aggregate. Still in the second period, star defenceman Raphael Diaz appeared in front of Marvin Cuepper but couldn't beat the Eisbaren goaltender. Early in the last frame, Zug failed to capitalize on yet another scoring opportunity and the guests managed to strike back.
With a little more than 10 minutes to be played in regulation, Berlin captain Andre Rankel tied things up after a beautiful pass by Kyle Wilson. At that particular time, the German side had a 5-1 lead on aggregate and they managed to score yet again, as Darin Olver scored an empty-netter in the 56th minute. After a commanding 4-0 win on home ice and a solid defensive performance in Switzerland, Eisbaren Berlin deservedly reached the Round of 16.
Grizzlies Wolfsburg
Zurich will change their focus to the Round of 16 after defeating Grizzlys Wolfsburg 5-2, finishing with an aggregate score of 9-3 in the first round of the playoffs.
All Zurich had to do to move on was keep from completely falling apart and giving Wolfsburg a chance to erase the 4-1 differential heading into the game. The game wouldn’t start in their favour, however, with Jeff Likens sending a shot between a screened Lukas Flüelers through the five-hole to make it 1-0 Grizzlys after just 7:42 of play.
Zurich wanted to fight back, and would do so with two goals in the second period. First, Chris Baltisberger put his team on the board after a screen in front made it tough for Sebastian Vogl to make the stop, knotting the game up at one.
"We were a little sleepy in the starting minutes of the first period, they came storming upon us so we knew that we have to definitely do better in the second and third period," said Baltisberger, who had two points in each of the two games against Wolfsburg. "Their first goal was a wake-up call for us. It gave them a boost and we acted a little nervous but we came back into the game. We concentrated on our defensive work, since we weren't forced to score goals."
Then, with two minutes left in the second, Norwegian superstar Patrick Thoresen got one on a good passing play around the crease before sending the puck past Vogl for the 2-1 advantage. For Zurich, one of the stronger defensive teams in the tournament was doing a good job of keeping the shots away while making their chances count the most.
The Grizzlys simply struggled to gain momentum, and it would result in Zurich taking a 3-1 lead. After 1:22 of play in the third, Phil Baltisberger took an absolute wicked slap shot that hit the crossbar and went down, giving Zurich a two-goal advantage with most of the third period still to go.
They did however, score with 4:07 off the clock in the final frame. Knowing they would need to have a big rally to make up for their goals against, Fabio Pfohl would take a shot from the point on the power play, only to get deflected on the way to the net. Gerrit Fauser was in a perfect spot to pick up the loose disk and jammed it home just in front of the crease, giving Wolfsburg a fighting chance.
But it wasn’t enough. With the third period half over, Vogl made a mistake trying to play the puck behind the net, giving it away to Zurich’s Pius Suter. Suter then made a beautiful deke around Vogl’s attempt at recovering, beating Vogl with another quick move.
At 52:33, the Lions scored once again. This time, Fabrice Herzog would beat Vogl with a weak one between the legs, with his wrist shot from the right face-off circle just making its way through the wickets and in for the 5-2 goal, a lead that would stay the same for the remainder of the contest.
Zurich will now play HC Lugano in an all-Swiss match-up in November, the which will feature a two-game series in the Round of 16.
"Of course it's special to play Lugano in the CHL, but I think it's an advantage as we know them well," said Baltisberger. "The travel is short and we have a great chance to advance to the Quarter-Finals."
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