Red Bull Munich produced a third period comeback to ensure their tie with Lukko Rauma remains evenly poised after a 2-2 tie in Finland. 

A scoreless opening period proved to be little more than a ‘feeling out’ process for the two teams, with neither able to generate much in the way of meaningful offensive chances. Lukko, with a bottom-six group of forwards comprised entirely of Under-20 players, would’ve been the more satisfied side going into the first intermission, outshooting Munich 11-8. 

The second frame got off to a promising start for the hosts, who went on the powerplay after only 46 seconds. Unable to cash in on two powerplay opportunities in the first period, Lukko enjoyed an extended passage of play cycling the puck around the Germans until Dannyaus den Birken gratefully got a glove on the puck for a break in play. 

The deadlock was eventually broken at 24:25, as Lukko’s Linus Nyman opened the scoring with a simple finish to convert Arttu Ilomäki’s feed from the right.  

The two teams entered the Quarter-Finals with the third and fourth-best penalty killing records in the competition and it was of no surprise to see both teams fail to make amends with the man-advantage throughout the duration of the period. 

Amidst the penalty killing from both teams, Munich came close to tying the game when Daryl Boyle blasted a shot against the iron and Ben Street was denied from point-blank by an excellent tip-over save from Artem Zagidulin, on his CHL debut for Lukko. 

With under 30 seconds of the period remaining, Lukko were able to take a two-goal lead into the break after defenceman Samuli Piipponen jumped up on play, before pulling a nice move to get around Yannic Seidenberg and shooting over den Birken’s glove. 

Munich left it late to make their mark on the game, but picked up to produce a comeback in the final period. In the opening exchanges, Frederik Tiffels picked up on a rebound with a shot that slipped through Zagidulin, to raise his tally to 13 points in 10 games. 

Munich continued their rally and capitalised once again after Zagidulin lost sight of the puck. This time Trevor Parkes spun and sent a backhand shot towards goal that sparked chaos in the crease as it slid through the Lukko goalie, and it was Parkes who was able to react quickest, skating back around to poke the puck in and keep the tie wide open for next week’s return game.