A great start by Lukko Rauma was ultimately matched by HC Innsbruck as the Finns and the Austrians will head into their Return Game tied at 2-2 on aggregate. Braeden Shaw was the hero for the hosts, securing both of Innsbruck's tallies, while Brayden Burke and Sebastian Repo got Lukko on the board in the early going.

Burke's persistence paid off when he found the net 12 minutes in to open the scoring. Evan Buitenhuis padded aside the Canadian's initial backhand attempt, but Burke was able to find the loose puck, pick his spot, and wire it by Innsbruck's netminder. Seven minutes later, the forward found himself on the scoresheet again when he dished the puck to a streaking Repo who fired a one-timer past the stick of Buitenhuis to extend his club's lead to 2-0.

Second-period action saw Lukko's penalty kill make its debut when Repo and Joonas Järvinen were handed penalties less than a minute apart, awarding Innsbruck some extended 5-on-3 play. But what was a golden opportunity to climb back into the contest fell to the wayside as the Austrians were unable to convert on the man advantage with Lukko's PK, spearheaded by the excellent play of Daniel Lebedeff, able to come away unscathed.

Innsbruck would eventually find twine in the middle stanza, however, when, with 15 seconds left, Gordon Green connected with Shaw to cut the Finns' lead to one. Shaw found himself uncontested in the slot where he wristed home Green's pass to give his club some life heading into the third.

Both netminders continued to be busy in the final frame as teams traded chances with the hosts attempting to tie it up while Lukko searched for that elusive third tally.

With a little less than six minutes to go, it was the Austrians striking again as Shaw registered his second tally of the contest off a clean set up from Green and Innsbruck's leading scorer, Corey Mackin. Green got control of the puck in the offensive zone before feeding it to a trailing Mackin who slid it to Shaw who made no mistake as he lifted it past a sprawling Lebedeff to knot things at two apiece.

No more scoring would occur, as both sides succeeded in finding the net twice and so will head into their Return Game on equal footing with a chance to advance.