After the Champions Hockey League playoffs opened with six games on Tuesday, the remaining two round-of-16 ties played their first legs on Wednesday in Prague and Sheffield. Sparta won on home ice against Czech Extraliga rival Oceláři Třinec, while the Sheffield Steelers fell to visiting Eisbären Berlin.

The return legs will be played next week, with five games on Tuesday and three on Wednesday at the homes of the teams that played on the road this week. The winners on aggregate scores advance to the quarterfinals. As is the custom in European sports, home teams are listed first.

Sparta Prague (CZE) 4 – Ocelaři Třinec (CZE) 1

In a matchup between two Czech Extraliga clubs, Sparta scored three goals in the first 12 minutes of the game and maintain that three-goal advantage after 60 minutes of this 120-minute game have been played. Pavel Kousal, Ondřej Mikliš and Filip Chlapík had two points each for Sparta.

“We didn’t expect a 3-0 lead after the first period, but almost everything we created went for us there,” Kousal told his club’s website. “It’s hard to say whether the aggregate scores are a good thing. It can be an advantage for us, but we have to go into the second leg exactly the same (as this one) because both teams want to win.” 

These two teams met in last year’s Extraliga semifinals, with Sparta winning the first three games before Třinec came back to win four in a row, with game seven being decided in the fourth overtime period. Therefore, despite the three-goal cushion, it’s unlikely Sparta will take their opponent likely.

Sheffield Steelers (GBR) 3 – Eisbären Berlin (GER) 5

Despite trailing 2-0 and 3-1 the Steelers fought back to tie the score after two periods. However, the German champs struck twice in the third to give themselves a two-goal edge heading home next week. Leonhard Pföderl had three points for Berlin, scoring the game’s final goal.

“We’ve seen that we can come back from two goals against this team and we’ve got 60 minutes to find a way to tighten the gap again,” said Sheffield coach Aaron Fox. “We’ll hopefully strike first to close the gap, get some good goaltending and go from there.”

One of the big storylines for this matchup is former Steeler and one-time Arizona Coyotes prospect Liam Kirk returning home as a member of the Eisbären team. Kirk had primary assists on Berlin’s second and third goals. 

Return legs with current aggregate scores:

Tuesday’s games:
Skellefteå AIK (SWE) 0 – Pinguins Bremerhaven (GER) 5
Färjestad Karlstad (SWE) 3 – Tappara Tampere (FIN) 2
Eisbären Berlin (GER) 5 – Sheffield Steelers (GBR) 3
ZSC Lions Zurich (SUI) 4 – Straubing Tigers (GER) 2
Fribourg-Gottéron (SUI) 0 – Växjö Lakers (SWE) 1

Wednesday’s games:
Ocelaři Třinec (CZE) 1 – Sparta Prague (CZE) 4
Genève-Servette (SUI) 5 – Lausanne HC (SUI) 0
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) 2 – Lahti Pelicans (FIN) 1