On Saturday (October 19, 7:45 p.m.), the EVZ will face the leaders in the Swiss Life Arena.Zug have a negative record in their guest appearances after the ZSC Lions moved from the Hallenstadion to Altstetten: they lost four out of six appearances in the Swiss Life Arena. The last two, in the last playoff semi-finals, with 2:5. On Saturday, the team of Head Coach Dan Tangnes wants to counteract this. He is encouraged by the statistics: EVZ won the two qualifying away matches in 2023/24 by 3:2 after overtime.

The ZSC Lions have made only a few changes to their championship-winning squad for the current season. The deserving veterans Reto Schäppi, Simon Bodenmann and Phil Baltisberger left the organization. They were replaced by talents from the GCK Lions’ Swiss League farm team. There was also a change in one foreigner position: Scott Harrington was replaced by Santtu Kinnunen.

What is striking about the current NL leaders is the breadth of the squad, which is also reflected in the list of scorers. There is not a single ZSC Lions player among the top 20 – top scorer Dean Kukan is 33rd on the scoring list. EVZ Flames helmet Daniel Vozenilek has climbed to 3rd place.

On Friday, the Zurich team lost the derby at EHC Kloten 2:3 after a penalty shootout. The EVZ won against Fribourg-Gottéron with 4:2.