- Pilsen advance to Quarter-Finals for 1st time
- Gulaš: 4 goals, 1 assist for Pilsen
- Insam & Findlay: goal each for Bolzano
Entering play with a five-goal lead on home ice, HC Pilsen seemed on their way to a spot in the Quarter-Finals and, thanks to four goals from Milan Gulaš and two-point efforts from Miroslav Indrák and Vojtěch Němec, their place was never seriously threatened. They won the return leg 6-2 to beat HC Bolzano 12-3 on aggregate.
Pilsen had some early chances but Jacob Smith made some big saves to keep the game scoreless, but in the 16th minute, Gulaš was given a penalty shot after being hauled down on a breakaway and he made no mistake, beating Smith over the pad.
Now ahead by six with 40 minutes to play, Gulaš broke it wide open with two more goals early in the second period, and then Miroslav Preisinger made it a 4-0 game with a powerplay goal in the 26th minute. After Leyland Irving replaced Smith in the Bolzano goal, the visiting Foxes showed signs of life in the second half of the second period and got goals from Marco Insam and Brett Findlay, which were sandwiched around Gulaš’s fourth of the game, making him the fifth player to do so in the CHL.
With nothing in doubt any longer, the teams played out the string in the third period, with Indrák adding a powerplay goal to round out the scoring.