Sparta Prague vs Pardubice

Pardubice opened the scoring in the 19th minute when Martin Kaut converted on a Sparta penalty, finishing a Košťálek-Červenka exchange. Sparta were stunned but came out for the second period at full pressure. In the 28th minute Špaček rifled past Roman Will to equalise; five minutes later, on a Pardubice tripping minor, Špaček added his second from a Horák feed.

Pardubice answered in the 43rd minute when Roman Červenka — the playoff scoring leader — buried a power-play chance from Košťálek and Kondelík for 2:2. The crowd briefly froze. Three minutes later, on the next shift, Filip Chlapík stepped into a Roman Horák cross-ice pass and beat Will to make it 3:2.

After the game, Sparta head coach Jaroslav Nedvěd was measured. "Once we matched their pace, it became a battle like all the previous games. Then it came down to one mistake, one goal. We were one goal better today," he said.

The series is tied 3-3 and shifts back to Enteria Arena for Game 7 on Wednesday. Pardubice are still favoured at home — they have not lost a play-off game in their building this season — but Sparta have just stolen back the momentum of the series with their best 30-minute stretch since Game 1.