For two and a half periods, the Belfast Giants and Ilves Tampere went back and forth before Ilves finally pulled away, winning 7-4.

The first period’s lone goal was scored early. Just past the three-minute mark, Ilves converted a nice passing play in the Belfast zone, with Timi Teuho-Markkola taking a pass from Matias Mäntykivi and had a wide-open net to shoot at.

After only one goal in the first 28 minutes of the game, there was then a flurry of four of them over the next 10 minutes – two by each team.

Belfast tied it on a 3-on-2 rush, with Nicolas Guay scoring on the rebound. Ilves regained the lead just 21 seconds later as John Nyberg tapped home a loose puck at the side of the net.

Belfast tied it for the second time on another rebound courtesy of David Goodwin. But with less than two minutes to play in the middle frame, Ilves took the lead for the third time. This goal came on the powerplay, with Lukas Svejkovsky firing it home.

Then came a wild third period in which the Giants struck twice in the 46th minute to take a 4-3 lead, and then Ilves replied with four more to go back in front and pull away.

First Goodwin’s second of the game tied it and then, just 41 seconds later, they took the lead on a bullet by Bo Hanson after an attacking-zone face-off win.

The Giants could have added to their lead on the powerplay, but instead, the last 10 minutes belonged to Ilves.

Jarkko Parikka tied it with 9:43 to play on a blast from the point. Less than two minutes later, Ilves were back in front again on a great individual effort by Simon Johansson – driving to the net and picking the far corner.

They kept coming. Matic Török, followed by Svejkovsky’s second of the game, made it four goals in 4:45, effectively sealing the game for Ilves.