HC '05 Banska Bystrica handled HK Nitra 4-2 in regulation, and the game was effectively settled before the second intermission. A 2-0 first period and another goal in the middle frame gave the hosts a 3-0 cushion they never surrendered.
Andrew Lucas opened it at 12 off a Stanislav Gron feed, and Zabka Boris made it 2-0 at 19 with Yoan Loshing assisting. Tomas Zigo pushed it to 3-0 at 28; Nitra's Robby Jackson answered at 47 for 3-1, but Marek Valach restored the three-goal margin at 54, and the visitors' late push produced only the second of their two third-period goals.
Gron was the connective piece with two assists on the first and third Bystrica goals. The period split tells the rest: the hosts won the first two frames 3-0 combined, and Nitra's 2-1 edge in the third came far too late.