Last week, EHC Biel-Bienne and KAC Klagenfurt played out a goal-fest in Austria. In the return leg of the game, things were much tighter but the result was the same, as Biel-Bienne ran out winners to finish as one of the top teams from the Group Stage. They opened their account in the first period, as Finnish forward Toni Rajala was all alone in front of goal, received the puck and fired a quick wrist shot past David Madlener in the KAC net.

At the start of the second period, KAC had some opportunities but it would be Biel-Bienne who would strike early. Peter Schneider broke in alone on the goal but was slashed on the play, resulting in a penalty shot. The Austrian forward, who had four goals when these two teams met last week made no mistake on the penalty shot attempt, toe dragging before firing top corner to double Biel-Bienne’s advantage. Ten minutes later, Biel-Bienne were up 3-0, as Anssi Salmela jumped into the rush and finished off a beautifully weighted Toni Rajala pass on a 2-on-1 beak. Nicholas Petersen would give KAC a way back into the game, but any hopes were quickly extinguished as Mike Kuenzle scored in the final second of the period to make it 4-1 to the hosts after 40 minutes.

With the away side knowing that a win would be vital in their quest to keep their qualification hopes alive, KAC continued to press the issue and search for a way back into the game. In the third period they reduced the deficit to two goals through Andrew Kozek’s goal on the two-man advantage. With this loss, KAC were officially eliminated from Playoff contention. EHC Biel-Bienne and Tappara Tampere will advance from Group A.