Tappara Tampere lit the lamp three times in the third en route to securing their first-ever trip to the Quarter-Finals with a 4-2 win over the Växjö Lakers.

With a trip to the Quarter-Finals on the line, both clubs had their skating legs early. Just two minutes in, Växjö's Pontus Holmberg put on a one-man show before Tappara’s Christian Heljanko stoned him on a backhand attempt. Seconds later, the hosts found themselves in on a 2-on-1 that was casually turned aside by Janis Kalnins.

Heljanko denied several more golden opportunities in the first, including one in close as a break down in Tappara’s coverage allowed Olle Lycksell to skate to the top of the paint and fire a wrister on net. 

As the minutes waned in the opening stanza, both sides continued pouring on the pressure but the netminders played their part splendidly, leaving the scoreboard level at 0-0 heading into period two. 

The visitors found their rhythm near the midway mark of the second as they opened the scoring when Hardy Häman Aktell let go a perfectly placed shot bardown, past Heljanko to give the Swedes the lead with a little more than half the period still to play.

Four minutes later, Tappara would do something no club has been able to do so far this campaign  - score against Växjö's penalty kill. After maneuvering through the neutral zone, Kristian Kuusela dished a drop pass to Kyle Platzer who skated near the top of the right circle before shooting it past Kalnins to knot it at 1-1.

Late in the period, the hosts had a scare in net when a collision between Heljanko and one of his defenders nearly forced the netminder from his crease. A quick trip to the bench was all he needed, however, before skating back between the pipes.

The visitors would take the lead for a second time of the night when Lycksell cashed in on the man-advantage with a wicked one-timer for his third of the tournament, giving Växjö a 2-1 edge with one period left to play. 

Third period action began with Tappara trailing, but they wouldn't trail for long as a faceoff win in the offensive zone led to Patrik Virta firing one from the point to give the Finnish side their second of the night and tie things at 2 apiece.

A smart heads-up play from the hosts would give them their first lead of the night a couple of minutes later when Casimir Jürgens delivered a feed to Anton Levtchi who rocketed it past a diving Kalnins. 

Waltteri Merelä made things interesting in the closing minutes when he put his team down a man with Tappara holding a one-goal lead. Växjö used the advantage to their utmost, pulling the goalie to give themselves six attackers on the powerplay.

Their risk, however, would be Tappara's reward as Veli-Matti Vittasmäki coralled the puck in his own zone before firing it down the ice for the empty-netter, and with that Tappara broke their Round of 16 curse as they secured their first trip to the Quarter-Finals.