Beaten 6-2 at home in their opening game two nights earlier, Orebro - who finished 10th in the regular season - were expected to bow out with little more than a "thanks for coming" against Lulea, only to beat the reigning champions 3-1 on the long trip north.
After a goalless opening period, the tension was clearly getting to the favourites, who were guilty of committing a handful of penalties, and after Oskari Laaksonen was called for tripping with five minutes left in period two, Orebro finally capitalised with a Kalle Kossila strike on the resulting powerplay.
Tensions began to boil over at the 40-minute mark as both sides had a player penalised for roughing, and it was Lulea who channeled that energy better at the start of the final period, as Anton Levtchi drew them level with less than two minutes played.
But five minutes later, Kalle Miketinac took centre stage to save Orebro's season - he put the visitors ahead again, before sealing victory with less than eight minutes to play and forcing a deciding match at Coop Norrbotten Arena on Saturday 21st March.
That evening will see another all-or-nothing encounter, as Malmo put their 3-2 defeat in the first game behind them, beating Djurgarden 2-1 on home ice.
It took only two-and-a-half minutes for Filip Bjorkman to put the Redhawks ahead with the first shot on goal and things seemed to get better midway through the first period when Fredrik Handemark found the net, only for the goal to be chalked off following a video review.
Things got a little heated at the end of the first period, with two players per side punished for fighting, and the tension only grew during a goalless second period.
Djurgarden looked to have punished their hosts for not killing the game off when Jacob Josefson struck with 11 minutes to play, but as the minutes ticked down, William von Barnekow-Lofberg stepped up to add a goal to the assist he notched earlier, winning the game for the home side.