Joakim Lindstrom hit a hat trick inside the first 30 minutes at the Skellefteå Kraft Arena to help earn his time in a big, and important, win against Tappara Tampere.

In a game that the hosts had to win to keep their Champions Hockey League qualification chances alive, Skellefteå got off to the perfect start with German Stefan Loibl tipping Adam Wilsby's shot out in front for the lead just over 12 minutes in.

When Patrik Virta picked up a loose puck in front of the net and tucked it away at 17:09, it looked as if the teams would go in level at the break. However, the home side had other ideas and ran in three goals in the space of just 84 seconds to take full control of the game.

From the opening faceoff after that equaliser, Albin Sundsvik forced a turnover in the Tappara zone and eventually was on hand to finish in close off Tom Kühnhackl's feed – that goal just a mere 17 seconds after the scores were levelled.

36 seconds later Joakim Lindström went through 1-on-0 and got his own rebound to make it 3-1, before then one-timing from the slot to score his side’s fourth goal at 18:40.

If there could have been a turning point early in period two, then it was Anton Levtchi going through on a breakaway. He, however couldn't beat Strauss Mann to pull the score back to 4-2, and his team were made to rue that missed opportunity when Wilsby fired home from the blue line just 3:27 into the period.

Mann pulled off an excellent last-ditch save to stop Tappara getting back to within three, and that proved vital as Lindström completed his hat-trick two minutes later to put the game out of sight. Netminder Christian Heljanko's night was then over, being replaced by Kari Piiroinen.

That was the end of the game so far as the scoring was concerned, with the third period passing off without incident. The win keeps Skellefteå in the hunt to qualify from Group E, but they'll have to get a result in Tampere when the teams meet again next week on Game Day 6.