- Pilsen's offensive dominance was undeniable
- SaiPa's failure to generate chances was their downfall
- Ivo Sedláček: 2G, 18:12 TOI for Pilsen
It was business as usual for the Czechs as HC Pilsen completed the 2026/27 Champions Hockey League Regular Season with a perfect 6-0 record as they downed SaiPa Lappeenranta by a 6-3 final to secure the Regular Season Winners crown in style.
13 minutes in, the Czechs found themselves down a man, but made good on an opportunity when Daniel Malák srpung Ivo Sedláček with a smooth outlet pass that allowed Sedláček to muscle his way down the ice and pot one short side to give Pilsen the 1-0 lead.
Despite outshooting Pilsen by a slight margin 7-6, SaiPa still trailed by one after the first 20 minutes.
A pretty passing play got SaiPa on the board in the second when Anže Žeželj made a turnaround pass to Otto Hokkanen who fed it across to Eero Klintrup who slid it back onto Hokkanen's stick as he deposited it into the back of a wide-open net to knot it at 1-1.
But moments later, Pilsen's Sedláček registered his second, this one on the powerplay, when he took a lead feed from Adam Titlbach, skated through the slot and juked the netminder in close before sliding it around the far pad.
The scoring continued with each team securing one minutes apart.
The Finns found the equaliser on their own man-advantage when Janne Naukkarinen tucked one in on the backhand from the side of the net. Naukkarinen was parked down low where he received a touch pass from Hokkanen before making quick stick work to put it past Jan Růžička.
A little over two minutes later, though, it was Pilsen relcaiming the lead when Jakub Lev slid one towards the net on a wraparound attempt that ended up finding its way through to give him his fourth of the season.
Third period action got underway with the visitors extending their lead when Richard Žemlička found twince just 52 seconds into the final frame. Then Jan Fodor made it 5-2 in favour of Pilsen when he converted on an opportunity at 45:31.
As the period wound down, the Finns continued to be hemmed in their own zone as the Czechs continued to play keep-away.
When the opportunity did come, though, SaiPa made good and cut the lead to two as Petr Fridrich put one home from in close. But a tap-in empty-netter from Mikko Artturi Petman ultimately helped to cement the victory for a Pilsen club chasing perfection.