Skellefteå AIK managed to secure a two-goal aggregate lead against Czech challengers Vítkovice Ridera as the Swedes won the First Game of this Semi-Final series by a 4-2 final. Linus Söderström made nearly 30 saves en route to his second win of the 2023/24 campaign.

A four-goal first period saw the visitors open the scoring before the Czechs found their footing as this Semi-Finals tilt was every bit as advertised from the get-go.

Skellefteå set up shop early in the Czechs' zone and it paid off when Linus Lindström netted his team-leading sixth tally five and a half minutes into the contest - a harmless wrister from the point found its way to Lindström who slid it past the right pad of Lukáš Klimeš.

Vítkovice, however, quickly answered with a powerplay tally courtesy of the Czech side's leading scorer Dominik Lakatoš. Lakatoš took a feed from Roberts Bukarts before skating to the top of the circle and snapping it past Linus Söderström. Moments later, the hosts would take their first lead of the game when Rastislav Dej pounced on an errant pass near the top of Söderström's crease and whacked it home to make it 2-1. 

The Czechs, though, would experience their own costly turnover, this time on the powerplay. A failed attempt to get the puck up ice put it right on the stick of Martins Dzierkals who skated through the slot and flung it far side to get his club level and end the Czechs' man-advantage with the shorthanded tally.

Five minutes into the second, the Swedes reclaimed their one-goal lead off a nice set-up pass from Dylan Sikura. Sikura found Pär Lindholm driving to the net as the forward threaded the needle through a pair of Vítkovice defenders right to Lindholm who tucked it home for his first of the night.

Klimeš continued to be the busier of the two goalies through the second as Skellefteå managed to keep the Czechs in their own zone for long stretches of play. But for all their opportunities, the Swedes were unable to extend their lead with the teams entering the final frame still separated by a goal.

The visitors would go on to increase the goal gap to two when Sikura buried one off a slick feed from Oskar Nilsson to make it 4-2 with 16 minutes still to play in the third.

Still trailing by two late in the stanza, Vítkovice had a chance to cut into the deficit with a short 5-on-3 powerplay, but the Swedes succeeded in stifling their opponents' chances as they would go on to take this one with an opportunity to secure a spot in the Final next week.