Karpat vs KalPa

KalPa struck first inside five minutes. Juuso Mäenpää capitalised on a breakaway feed from Mitja Jokinen and Jaakko Rissanen, lifting the puck past Kärpät goaltender Niklas Rubin at 4:48 of the opening period.

Kärpät responded early in the second period. Captain Eemil Erholtz wired the puck past KalPa debutant Rasmus Korhonen — signed just two days earlier from a try-out — to level the score at 1-1 within the first minute of the middle frame.

The third period saw Kärpät take the lead. Eetu Pakkila converted a powerplay chance at 55:00 (P3, 15:00), teed up by Eetu Koivistoinen and Samuli Ratinen, to make it 2-1.

KalPa refused to settle. With the final seconds ticking down and the net empty, Juuso Könönen forced the puck home from a goalmouth scramble at 59:00 (P3, 19:00), with assists from Joona Saarelainen and Jaakko Rissanen, to knot the game at 2-2 and force overtime.

The five-minute 3-on-3 overtime produced no further scoring, sending the contest to a shootout.

Könönen's last-second equaliser at 59:00 — just before the buzzer — denied Kärpät a regulation win and flipped momentum back to the visitors. But Kärpät regained control in the shootout, where Andreas Okany beat Korhonen on both of his attempts to secure the extra point for the home side.

• Andreas Okany (Kärpät) — Player of the Match: Scored both of Kärpät's shootout attempts to deliver the win. His composure under pressure decided a tight contest.

• Juuso Mäenpää (KalPa): Opened the scoring with a clinical breakaway finish in the first period and hit the post on a second breakaway later in the frame. His speed was a constant threat.

• Juuso Könönen (KalPa): Scored the dramatic 59th-minute equaliser that kept KalPa in the game and forced overtime.

• Rasmus Korhonen (KalPa, debut): Making his first appearance for KalPa after signing on 11 August 2026, the goaltender made several strong saves across regulation and overtime, only beaten twice by Okany in the shootout.

Kärpät and KalPa have met 50 times since 2016, with KalPa holding a 27-23 edge in wins and the fixture averaging 5.94 goals per game. This contest — level 2-2 after regulation — fell below that average but featured the kind of dramatic finish typical of the rivalry, with both teams scoring in 48 of 50 meetings (96%). The shootout win marked Kärpät's first pre-season outing of the summer.

This was the first pre-season friendly of the 2026-27 campaign for Kärpät, who tested new combinations on home ice at Oulun Energia Areena. KalPa, playing their second pre-season match (after a 3-2 shootout win over Kärpät on 9 August 2024 in a prior year's fixture), fielded a significantly different lineup including debuts for Czech forward Samuel Jung and defenceman Jesper Kotajärvi.

KalPa's upcoming pre-season fixtures: at Ilves in Tampere (20 August), at HIFK in Helsinki (21 August), and home vs JYP at Olvi Areena (27 August).

Kärpät's next pre-season fixture was not confirmed at the time of writing.

Both clubs are preparing for the 2026-27 Liiga season.

This report draws on the official KalPa match report published on 13 August 2026 (kalpa.fi), the Betmana.co.uk match page (provider payload), and the Kaleva pre-season broadcast announcement (kaleva.fi).

A fittingly tight opening pre-season test between two Finnish rivals who know each other inside out. KalPa's 59th-minute equaliser showed resilience, but Okany's shootout polish gave Kärpät the edge. Fitness levels and sharpness will improve for both sides as August progresses.