Lulea Hockey are still looking for their first win following a 2-0 home loss to SaiPa Lappeenranta. Read more in Gamecentre.

2014-15 CHL champions Lulea Hockey are in a spot of bother after suffering their second defeat in as many games this season. Following their loss in Berlin, they welcomed SaiPa to Northern Sweden hoping to get back on track on home ice.

SaiPa had other ideas though and took the lead with 12:36 played in the match – Mikael Kuronen opening the scoring. Lulea were unable to tie the game over the course of the remainder of the period, or indeed during the second twenty minutes either, SaiPa fending of three Lulea powerplays in the process to keep the scores level.

With the final period underway, the Finnish guests were finally undone by an own goal from Simon Backma- who got the last touch as the puck flew across the crease and deflected into the net at 41:11, the goal credited to Lulea's Kael Mouillierat. The game turned back in SaiPa's favour though just under five minutes before the end as Eetu Koski batted home a bouncing puck after Backman's shot was deflected, to put the visitors back in front.

Any hopes Lulea had of tying the game all-but evaporated when Anton Hedman was ejected on a major penalty for Checking to the Head with 4:20 remaining. This gave SaiPa a man advantage until the end of the game, and they finally made the breakthrough with 22 seconds to play – John McFarland scoring on the empty net for what was assumed to be the last action of the game. I face, it was just the start of a spell which saw three goals in 20 seconds, as Lulea's Christian Jaros went through the Finnish defence by himself to score to-shelf with 8 seconds left to play. Again, Lulea took the goalie out but last the draw and could only watch as Backman added a second empty-netter with two seconds left on the board.

“It feels quite disappointing that we couldn’t manage to win this game. We controlled the game and outshot them with quite a huge margin but we didn’t manage to score enough goals, and that’s why we lost," said Stefan Nilsson, Lulea's head coach, after the game. "Obviously we now have to win both of our remaining games. We need to capitalize on our scoring chances, and score more than our opponents." Asked about Hedman's major penalty, Nilsson answered, "I couldn’t really tell in which direction the hit were, but if he hit him in head there's nothing to discuss. The rule book says it’s five and a game."

On the opposite bench, SaiPa head coach Ari Santanen was delighted with his team's performance. "We knew that Lulea would come hard, so defence was very important for us. We didn't have os many chances to score, but we took them when it mattered and got important goals. No we'll go home with two wins under our belt, and look forward to the next games" he said in the post-game interview session.

The result leaves SaiPa six points clear of Lulea, with the Swedes now staring elimination in the face unless they can win the return leg against the Finns and beat Eisbaren Berlin at home.