In the first game after the short CHL break, EVZ will face EHC Biel-Bienne away from home. The Seelanders are currently in 10th place and would just about make it into the play-in games. However, the Lakers are lurking in 11th place with the same number of points but one game more. The teams in 7th to 13th place are separated by just eleven points – but apart from Biel and Geneva, all teams have already played 48 games. The Bielers are therefore in urgent need of points in their remaining games against Zug, Ambri, Fribourg, Langnau and Lugano. 

In the EHCB’s favor is the fact that they have won six of their last eight home games, while in the other two games they only left the ice as losers after a penalty shoot-out or overtime. They have therefore kept a total of 20 out of a possible 24 points at home. The last home game against EVZ was also lost 2-1 after overtime, while Martin Filander’s team won 3-1 away in Zug in October, but EVZ won 4-1 in mid-January.