- Teams level heading into the second leg
- 1-1 after regulation sent the game to overtime
- Toni Rajala the hero as he sends Biel-Bienne through
Nothing could separate EHC Biel Bienne and the Augsburger Panther after last week's first leg, and with the aggregate score tied at two goals each, it was all to play for in the second leg as both sides look to advance to the Quarter-Finals of the 2019/20 Champions Hockey League season.
Much like the first game, the teams couldn’t be separated after the first 20 minutes of play, with Biel outshooting Augsburg 12-8, but both goalies coming up big in the first, but it didn’t take long for the hosts Biel to strike in the second period. Just under 90 seconds into the middle frame, Tino Kessler made a nice cut to the middle of the ice, firing a wrist shot past the glove hand of Olivier Roy to open a one goal cushion for the Swiss side. Jaroslav Hafenrichter nearly tied things up minutes later, but despite his shot beating Elien Paupe, it couldn’t find it’s way past the goal post and kept it at a 1-0 score on the night.
It was very nearly 2-0 to Biel midway through the second as they had a chance on the powerplay, but top scorer Toni Rajala couldn’t finish the move around Panther goalie Roy who was sprawled on the ice, desperately trying to get any part of his body in the way of the puck, eventually covering it up for a while. Despite Biel controlling most of the second period, Augsburger managed to level things late, as Andrew LeBlanc redirected a shot by Henry Haase into the back of the net to make it 1-1 on the night and 3-3 overall heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Both teams traded chances early in the third period but couldn’t regain the lead, and as time ticked away, overtime was looking more and more inevitable, and things looked dangerous for Augsburger as goalie Olivier Roy was forced from the game late through injury, and on one of their first attempts against his replacement Markus Keller, their shot rang the iron and couldn’t find the back of the net, and that would be the closest either team would get in rest of regulation, and it was going off to overtime.
Once again, Biel did everything but beat the post early in overtime, with the red iron coming to the rescue of the Panther, but eventually they forced their way through. Toni Rajala carried the puck up to the blueline and waited until the Augsburger players were looking to their bench to get a change, before picking up speed, deking around Keller and tucking the puck across the line, sending Biel through to the Quarter-Finals.