A swift response from the Växjö Lakers helped them overcome Fribourg-Gottéron in their Champions Hockey League Round of 16 series as the Swedes qualified for the Quarter-Finals in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2016/17 - 2017/18 campaigns. Félix Robert broke the deadlock and Emil Larmi stopped 27 of 30 to help Växjö advance.

Three minutes in, it was Sandro Schmid notching his third marker of the competition when he jammed home a loose puck as Fribourg knotted the aggregate score to 1-1. Raphael Diaz's point shot pinballed around in the blue paint before Schmid found the puck and slid it into the cage to bring things even between the Swiss and the Swedes.

Växjö responded on the powerplay with a Manuel Ågren tip-in near the twelfth minute of the first stanza. Sebastian Strandberg threw the puck towards the slot where Ågren got his stick on it to redirect it past Reto Berra and make it 2-1 on aggregate in favour of the Swedish side.

Filip Eriksson was the beneficiary of solid play from down low as he helped the visitors extend their lead at 25:17 when he beat Berra with a wrister from just above the blue paint. The Swedes got control of the puck below the red line as Karl Henriksson found Eriksson gliding into the slot with the forward sliding it past Fribourg's netminder to make it 3-1 on aggregate.

Still trailing by two in the third, Fribourg made things interesting when they were awarded a powerplay near the midway mark of the period, netting two tallies on the same man-advantage. Jacob De la Rose registered the first and then Marcus Sörensen secured the second to make it 3-3 on aggregate.

Their joy would be short-lived, however, as a little over a minute later it was Växjö regaining their one-goal aggregate lead courtesy of Robert's first of the season.

The hosts would go on the powerplay again late in period, but for all their effort they were unable to break through Larmi a fourth time as they fell to the Swedish side and came up short in the Round of 16 for a third consecutive campaign.