It was a welcomed win for a Lukko Rauma club that went 0-for-5 on the man-advantage as they took a 4-3 aggregate victory over HC Innsbruck to secure their place in the Quarter-Finals. A defensive clinic from both clubs ended with Tarmo Reunanen potting the OT winner seconds into the extra session to send the Finns on to the next leg of their 2023/24 campaign.

A redirect on a long shot from the blueline opened the scoring for Lukko who entered the contest tied at 2-2 on aggregate with the Austrians. Pathrik Westerholm got it back to the point where Jakob Stenqvist wristed a shot on net that found the stick of Ponthus Westerholm who tipped it past Evan Buitenhuis to give his club a one-goal edge.

The first period continued with the Finns awarded a pair of powerplay opportunities, but Innsbruck's penalty kill was able to frustrate the hosts' man-advantage and keep the deficit to one.

Penalties continued to plague the visitors in the middle stanza as Innsbruck were guilty of back-to-back infractions that saw Lukko go on their third and fourth powerplays of the night. But as they had in the first, the penalty killers came up large for the Austrians to keep the game competitive.

As time winded down in the second, it was Buitenhuis who was the busier of the two netminders, having to make several grade-A saves to keep his team in it. With neither side managing to beat the opposing netminder, the teams headed into the final period with Innsbruck still down by a goal.

Frustration began to set in for the Finns as they went on their fifth man-advantage at 46:44, but to no effect as Lukko were unable to overcome Innsbruck's 17th-ranked penalty kill with their powerplay going 0-for-5 on the night.

This allowed the Austrians to make it a game which they did when defenceman Nicholas Albano ripped it from distance during Innsbruck's second man-advantage to tie it 3-3 on aggregate with three minutes to go in regulation.

With the game still tied on aggregate scoring, the two clubs headed to 3-on-3 OT with a place in the Quarter-Finals on the line. But while the score was even, the shot totals were anything but as Lukko were thoroughly outplaying the Austrians by a 46-12 margin.

Fortunately for the hosts, their night of missed opportunities ended on a positive when Reunanen netted the game-winner just 19 seconds in. The defenceman received a pass at the blueline, skated through the slot and let go a wicked wrister that beat Buitenhuis glove side.

It was a bitter defeat for the visitors who kept themsleves in it all night and were a goal shy of advancing on their CHL debut.