After results elsewhere this weekend, HC Pilsen remained the last perfect team in the Champions Hockey League, and they looked to keep that record intact when they faced HC Lugano on Sunday evening, with the Swiss side looking to pick up their second win to stay in the qualification hunt.
The two sides exchanged chances in the opening period until Lugano took the first penalty of the game. With Taylor Chorney in the box for tripping, Milan Gulaš broke the deadlock with a great shot from after a perfect pass from Vojtěch Němec set up the captain for the opening goal.
Then just minutes after getting the primary assist on the opening goal, Němec made Lugano pay again on the powerplay, as on a 5-on-3 David Stach fed the puck out in front to him, and all he had to do is quickly snap a shot past Elvis Merzlikins for a two-goal lead going into the second period.
A feisty second period saw a total of 41 penalty minutes handed out but just one goal coming from Lukáš Kaňák, with Stach picking up his second assist of the night, as once again Pilsen moved the puck about well, leaving Merzlikins with little he could do to stop the shot from Kaňák that gave the Group H leaders a three-goal cushion to work with going into the final frame.
With Pilsen looking set to take the three points, Lugano finally broke Dmitri Milchakov’s shutout bid with less than 10 minutes to go as Gregory Hofman struck, and then in the final moments of the game he grabbed a second to pull it back to a one goal game with just left in the game, but it was too little, too late as Pilsen managed to stop any further attack, electing to clear the puck rather than go for the empty net as the time wound down to their fourth straight victory, ensuring they’ll be going through to the next round at the top of Group H, while Lugano will be battling for second spot in their next two games.
