It's down to the business end of this year's Champions Hockey League as debutants Rögle Ängelholm hosted four-time Champions Frölunda Gothenburg, looking to start strong in the Semi-Finals to make the Grand Final.

A frantic start saw both sides swap chances, but Rögle came closest to opening the scoring. Tyler Kelleher was first to spot a loose puck after a rebound, but couldn’t direct his effort from in tight towards net.

Rögle stepped up the pressure through the opening period, challenging Matthew Tomkins in the Frölunda net on several occasions, but couldn’t get anything to stick, but before the period was out Frölunda came close to taking the lead as Joel Lundqvist redirected a puck in the slot, but couldn’t put it goal bound as it sailed wide.

It looked like the two sides were heading towards a scoreless first period before Frölunda struck with a late powerplay goal. After a pass through the slot saw the puck loose out in front, Johan Sundström was in the right place at the right time to get the puck across the line at the back door, giving Frölunda a one goal advantage heading into the second period.

Frölunda looked to extend their lead in the second, but eventually Rögle found their response. Ludvid Larsson applied immense pressure behind the goal line to force the turnover, and as the puck came loose to Oskar Stål Lyrenäs, he played a slick pass across the crease, setting Ted Brithén, who buried it from in tight to make it a 1-1 game.

The goal seemed to spark something for Rögle, as they immediately looked to use the momentum to grab another. Brithén came close, but it would be Samuel Johanesson who would give the hosts the lead. Mathias Sjögren took the puck into the zone after a turnover in the neutral zone, and as he waited for Johanesson to join the rush, he found the defenseman who then fired a quick shot past Tompkins, and Rögle took the lead.

Coming out for the third period, Rögle immediately went back to work. Stål Lyrenäs was once again the provider of a great assist, finding Brithén once again out in front, and this time he had a bit more work to do, before pulling it to his backhand to beat Tomkins and give Rögle a two-goal cushion early on.

Rögle were handed another chance to extend their lead after a big turnover in the zone sent the puck right on the tape of Leon Bristedt, and he faked the first shot before finding the five-hole on Tomkins, giving the hosts a 4-1 advantage.

After conceding twice in quick succession, Frölunda needed to find a response, and that's exactly what they did, finding two goals of their own. First it was a sloppy play in the zone by Rögle which allowed Frölunda to keep the puck in the zone, and when they found Ryan Lasch down behind the goal line, he put the puck out in front to Nicklas Lasu, who fired a quick shot past Christoffer Rifalk to cut the deficit to two.

Then on the second one, nobody spotted Lasch behind the Rögle defence - a stretch pass sent the CHL's all-time scorer in on a breakaway. He roofed his effort to set up a tense final 10 minutes as Rögle quickly saw their three-goal lead cut to just one within just over two minutes of action.

With the two teams playing hard and using their speed in the game, the quick goals kept coming. Just over a minute late, and Rögle's lead was a little more comfortable, a rebound gave Ted Brithén the perfect chance to make it a two-goal lead, burying his hat-trick goal for a 5-3 lead.

After plenty of scoring in the third, the game would come to a slower end as both sides ran into penalty trouble, but as the buzzer sounded, Rögle held their two goal lead, setting up an exciting return game next week.