Matthew James Bradley’s last-minute powerplay goal broke a 3-3 tie, giving HC Bolzano an improbable 4-3 regulation victory over Lukko Rauma in a game they trailed 2-0 and were outshot 36-23.

Bolzano got a chance to take the lead early when Aarne Intonen received a double-minor for high-sticking at 4:38. The Foxes got four shots on Daniel Salonen and also hit a goalpost, but were unable to finish. After the four minutes expired, they didn’t record another shot on goal until midway through the second period.

Lukko opened the scoring on their first powerplay at 9:43 when Alex Beaucage picked the low short side on Samuel Harvey from the faceoff dot.

They went up 2-0 just shy of the game’s midpoint on a one-timer from the point by Eric Gélinas. At that point, Lukko had completely dominated since midway through the first.

However, Bolzano shone on special teams late in the middle frame. Bryce Misley got them on the board by capitalising on a shorthanded breakaway to end his team’s penalty. And then on the powerplay in the last minute of the period, they moved the puck well around the Lukko zone and Bradley found Shane Gersich in front for a one-timer.

The second intermission didn’t stop Bolzano’s momentum and they took their first lead of the game early in the third period when Cole Schneider beat Salonen over the shoulder from in close.

Trailing for the first time in the game, Lukko turned the pressure back up and tied the game midway through the period when Jakob Stenqvist took advantage of some confusion in the Bolzano zone and hit a wide-open net.

Each team got chances on the powerplay in the late going but only Bolzano capitalised when Bradley put a nice deflection on a shot by Scott Valentine with 21 seconds to play, securing their first three points of the season.