In a battle of the netminders, the Växjö Lakers saw themselves level with their Finnish opponents Tappara Tampere after 60 minutes to begin their Playoff series.

The visitors were gifted an early man-advantage to begin the bid, as their 33.3% powerplay went up against Växjö ’s perfect PK to set the tone of the match. The Swedish side didn’t disappoint as they killed off the advantage and play picked up in the first. 

Tyler Morley netted his third of the campaign when his sneaky backhand shot found its way in as Tappara opened the scoring at 5:49. Morley skated through the right faceoff dot with space where he lifted a backhand that looked to be a pass before it deflected off of Adam Åhman’s stick and into the back of the net. 

Midway through the period, the hosts brought the crowd to their feet when they answered on an incredible shot from the far side courtesy of defenceman Joel Persson who, after skating around one defender, found some open ice and roofed it over the glove of Christian Heljanko to give the Swedes some life.  

Växjö upped their pressure in the waning minutes of the first as their extensive offensive zone time resulted in another tally, this time from Emil Forslund. After Ludvig Claesson’s shot bounced off the shoulder of Heljanko, Forslund found himself in front of the net where he whacked it home on the rebound to give the home side a one-goal lead heading into the second. 

Action picked up in the second period and good things were in store for Tappara as a perfectly played deflection by Topi Rönni tied things up with a little over three minutes gone. "Tappara on the attack" was the theme for most of the middle frame as the visitors hemmed the hosts in their zone and fired chance after chance at the Växjö net, but fortunately, Åhman was equal to the task.

The Swedes eventually caught a break when they went on their first powerplay of the night at 29:36 after Otso Rantakari was called for interference. For their part, the home team had some quality chances, but couldn’t convert. Växjö used this opportunity to re-energise their offence, but Tappara matched their intensity to close out the period and uphold the 2-2 tie.

As netminders changed sides for the final time of the night, Växjö and Tappara were neck-and-neck in the stats department with the visitors edging the hosts in shots on goal, 37-35, thanks to their buffet of shots to finish the second.

If Tappara were feeding off the energy of their second period performance, it showed as they continued to shower the Swedish netminder with shots. A powerplay at 47:37 gave Växjö some breathing room, but Tappara's skill was on full display in all situations.

Despite their dominance, capped off by a late powerplay, the visitors were unable to break through, however, and after 60 minutes game one of this home-at-home series ended level at 2, setting up a vital rematch where Tappara will have home ice advantage.