Tappara Tampere faced off against Färjestad Karlstad at the Nokia Arena in Finland to kick off their 2024/25 Champions Hockey League Playoffs campaign. The Swedes entered the match-up with confidence, having finished the Regular Season in first place.

Meanwhile, Tappara hoped to capitalise on home ice and the energy of their own fans, however, the home advantage wasn’t enough to secure an important first Playoff win, as the Finns head into next week's Return Game a goal down.

The first period was fast-paced and intense but saw few scoring chances but Tappara did manage to light the lamp at 7:50. Oiva Keskinen led the offence down the right wing, making a brilliant pass to Nicholas Halloran, who found an opening between the goalie’s pads to put Tappara up 1-0.

The home team started the second period strong, extending their lead just three minutes in. Hugo Gallet, with support from a teammate, stole the puck from Färjestad's Viktor Lodin and fired it into the net to make it 2-0. Färjestad responded soon after with a goal from Oskar Steen, one of the Regular Season’s top forwards, as the teams headed into the locker rooms with Tappara leading 2-1.

The third period was challenging for Tappara as they struggled on multiple penalty kills. Joel Kellman took advantage of an early powerplay, scoring from the right face-off circle at 43:35 to even the score.

Shortly after, Tappara’s Hugo Gallet was called for slashing, giving Färjestad another extra-man opportunity. Axel Bergkvist capitalised on it, scoring to give Färjestad a 3-2 lead. Tappara fought hard to equalise but couldn’t, and the game ended with a 3-2 victory for the visitors, giving them a small edge in their second game of their Round of 16 match-up.