Kärpät Oulu Head Coach Mikko Manner must have resorted to questioning the idea of superior forces being in control of a game where his side fought relentlessly with no avail. Instead, he watched on as his team found itself a goal down in the first period despite putting double the amount of shots on net as Red Bull Salzburg. 

The Austrians opened the scoring at 14:23 when a disjointed play in front of the net seemingly dumbfounded three players, including two defencemen, who could only watch on as the puck crawled to the conveniently positioned Alexander Rauchenwald.

The home side did respond when Oskar Osala scored his first Champions Hockey League goal after being gifted a breakaway opportunity by teammate Aleksi Heponiemi, who earned his assist at 21:47. They continued to pressure the defiant Austrian side, who defended superbly while netminder Stephen Michalek rewarded his coach’s loyalty in him with a game-winning performance, particularly in the third period.

Originally entering the fixture as underdogs, Salzburg’s ability to see off a game has now presented them with a Semi-Final match-up against Red Bull Munich, where one of them will become the first from their country to reach the Final.