What began as a dream start turned into somewhat of a nightmare for Lukko Rauma, as they let slip an early advantage to eventually lose the first leg on home ice.

 Lukko Rauma 2–3 Karpat Oulu 

by Luke Fisher, with contribution from Timo Simila

RAUMA – Finnish Liiga leaders Karpat Oulu will head into next week's return leg of the CHL Semi-Finals with a slender one-goal advantage over rivals Lukko, after winning tonight's game 3–2 in Rauma. The home side blew a two-goal lead, meaning they will have it all to do as they hit the road a week from today.

After a quiet opening few minutes, the game came to life with three goals in a short space of time. Toni Koistvo was given far too much space in front of the Karpat net, and made no mistake with the finish to put the home side 1–0 up with 9:36 played. Just over a minute later Lukko were celebrating again as a 2-on-1 saw Jesse Virtanen shoot top shelf to make it 2–0.

“We had a 2-on-1 and I was looking to pass, but the D played out so I shot it and I scored – it was good,” Virtanen later described.

After a period of relative calm Karpat made use of a tripping penalty on Miika Koistvo to get themselves back in the game – Lasse Kukkonen breaking into the offensive zone and unleashing a rocket into the top corner of Zapolski's net to half the deficit.

“Sometimes it’s worth taking the shot even though there’s just a slim chance. Sometimes it pays off, like this time,” Kukkonen said of his bar-down blast. 

The game stayed tied through the middle period, despite Lukko having the better of the chances – the home side outshooting their opponents 11–5, with the visitors grateful to Aittikallio in their net for a couple of decent saves.

“The second period was a bit hard for us and Aittokallio did a great job in net when Lukko came out strong and put a lot of pressure on us,” Karpat coach Lauri Marjamaki admitted. “Then the third period was our best period in the game and I must give our guys some credit for turning 2–0 into a 3–2 victory in an away game.” 

The score stayed 2–1 in favour of Lukko until five minutes into the third period – when a dream of a pass from Markus Nutivaara set Juho Keranen free in the offensive zone, and he made no mistake in finding the roof of the net to tie things up at 44:28. Then, with under seven minutes remaining, the entire series was turned on its head. Arto Laatikainen's shot from the bullion deflected off Jesse Puljujarvi and then Miro Aaltonen to end up in the net, and put Karpat ahead for the first time in the game.

“That two-game system definitely was a factor and it kept us on our toes at the beginning. After the observation-phase we got a good grip on the play, especially in the second period, which went precisely as planned,” said Lukko coach Juha Vuori. “But then Karpat showed their patience and mental capacity; with success comes confidence. They punished us with goals from our mistakes. For next week we have to keep our margin of error in minimum and create more chances in offensive zone.” 

Despite some final attacks in the closing stages of the game, Lukko were unable to find a tying goal, and Karpat held on for an important 3–2 win!

Goals:

• 1st 09:36 - 1:0 (EQ) - Toni Koivisto (Janne Lahti, Rony Ahonen)
• 1st 10:59 - 2:0 (EQ) - Jesse Virtanen
• 1st 14:40 - 2:1 (PP1) - Lasse Kukkonen (Markus Nutivaara, Esa Pirnes)
• 3rd 44:28 - 2:2 (EQ) - Juho Keranen (Markus Nutivaara, Saku Maenalanen)
• 3rd 53:16 - 2:3 (EQ) - Miro Aaltonen (Sebastian Aho, Arto Laatikainen)
• 2360 | Highlights: Lukko Rauma vs Karpat Oulu