On a night of close calls, missed opportunities, and momentum swings, it would be the visitors who would skate away with an historical win as Frisk Asker bested HC Bolzano in the shootout to claim their first Champions Hockey League contest.

Asker did everything right in the first - limiting quality scoring chances and generating dangerous ones of their own - but the Norwegians' inability to find the net continued and their man-advantage woes were on display as they failed to convert when opportunity knocked - and it knocked often.

A slew of penalties could've been bad news for the home side, but Bolzano's PK maintained its fine form in front of Justin Fazio, who made his return to the crease, and kept the score knotted at 0-0 to end the first.

More man-advantages came for both clubs in the opening ten minutes of the second, but some clutch goaltending by Fazio and his counterpart Henrik Fayen Vestavik, who saw his first CHL action, kept the scoreboard blank.

Midway through the period, the scoresheet continued to collect dust until Asker's leading scorer, Viktor Granholm, sent one upstairs at 31:50 to secure the Norwegians' first lead of the campaign. Suddenly, the Italians were in unfamiliar territory as they chased the game.

But the chase wouldn't last long. Add a turnover chance together with the patience of Mathew Maione and you got the equaliser three minutes later.

Bolzano continued pressuring the visitors, this time with an odd-man rush that produced a rebound opportunity for Joseph Mizzi who nearly gave the Italians their first lead of the night, but Vestavik's left pad said no and the two clubs entered the third still tied.

History was on the line as 20 minutes separated Frisk Asker from earning their first CHL victory, while Bolzano was 20 minutes away from achieving their best record to start the CHL competition since 2018/19.

Tight checking and solid defence were the difference makers in the third. A late Bolzano powerplay would seemingly put the home side up one until the goal was negated as the play was blown dead.

But Asker were in it to win it, and with 71 seconds to go they pulled their netminder in an attempt to win in regulation. In what could only be called bad luck, both of Bolzano's top scorers had a chance to close it out and both came up short, meaning OT and possibly a shootout would decide how to divide the points.

The Italians had a number of beautiful chances in the extra session with the best opportunity coming on a 3-on-1 early on, but Vestavik was a brick wall and with the score still level, the match headed to a shootout.

The Norwegian netminder continued his shining debut stopping all of Bolzano's lethal scorers to set up Jacob Lagace's game-winning tally and hand the Norwegians their first points of the tournament.