Oceláři Třinec had a chance to qualify for the final place in the Round of 16 with a win over the Aalborg Pirates and with two goals in the first, one goal in the second and one in the third they did just that, overcoming the Danish side 4-0 to register their third win while the Danes end their season winless. 33-year-old Ondřej Kacetl also did his part, turning aside all 23 Aalborg shots.

The hosts lit the lamp twice in the opening period - first on a deflection from Viliam Čacho then on a Libor Hudáček wrister in close.

Their first marker came from some excellent cycling play when Vladimír Dravecký played it low-to-high for defenceman Jakub Jeřábek who let go a shot from the point. Jeřábek's shot eventually found the stick of Čacho who deflected it past Albert Adamsen to open the scoring.

Hudáček's goal came off a missed assignment in the D-zone that left Třinec's leading scorer all alone at the side of the net where a crisp cross-ice feed from Andrej Nestrašil found the forward who made no mistake elevating it up and over the glove of the Danish netminder to register his fourth of the campaign at 14:21.

The Czech side continued to hem Aalborg in their own zone for long stretches, producing 11 shots to the visitors seven after 20 minutes of play.

Some undisciplined play from both sides led to several powerplays being handed out in the middle frame, including a short stint of 5-on-3 action for Aalborg, but it was the Czech side potting their third of the contest on the man-advantage to gain a comfortable three-goal cushion.

Hudáček retrieved the puck along the boards near the point, skated through the far circle and then feathered a seam pass to a wide-open Petr Vrána in the slot who had no trouble corralling the puck before picking his spot and firing it stick side for his first of the tournament.

Powerplay time spilled over from the second for the home side after Lasse Bo Knudsen was called for tripping near the end of the middle stanza. But Třinec were unable to capitalise on their third man-advantage as play continued in the third.

With under eight minutes to go in regulation, the Czechs went on their fifth powerplay of the night where a spinning Hudáček slung one to Miloš Roman along the point where the forward had all kinds of time and space as he lasered it by Adamsen with a slapshot from the slot to make it 4-0.

This would be the final tally of the night with Třinec successfully fighting off all Aalborg opportunities for the remainder of the match as the Czech side will look forward to Playoff hockey for the third time in their CHL tenure.