Vaxjo's only win in their final three regular season games came against strugglers Timra, while Brynas had just about held onto sixth place despite four successive defeats, although three of them went beyond regulation time.
This game had all the hallmarks of another tight one for Brynas, who went behind after seven minutes through Karl Henriksson, but they got themselves level when Johan Larsson made the most of a powerplay with just one second left of the middle period.
However, that all changed in an eight-minute spell in the third period, in which the Lakers won the opening match with five unanswered goals. The first two came on powerplays, as Reid Gardiner and Morgan Anderberg punished Robert Hagg for hooking and Anton Rodin for slashing.
Brynas getting back to full strength didn't stop Lucas Elvanes adding another a minute later, before two goals in 15 seconds of play, from Dennis Rasmussen and Hugo Gustafsson, respectively, put Vaxjo 6-1 up with just over seven minutes to play.
Johannes Kinvall added a consolation in the final five minutes, but the 6-2 victory provides a huge boost for Vaxjo, who will be at home again for game two in two days time.
Farjestad were the form team at the end of the regular season, and they've now made it five wins in a row with a 2-1 victory on the road over Rogle, the side who finished 13 points ahead of them.
If the first period was anything to go by, this series will be a long one for the officials, as Josh Dickinson and David Tomasek were called for fighting after just five minutes, while Linus Johansson and Mark Friedmanin were penalised for holding in the final seconds, one for holding and one for retaliating.
Johansson was in the spotlight for the right reasons five minutes into the second period when he scored the first goal of the series, before his provider, Axel Bergkvist, turned scorer in the fourth minute of the third period to put Rogle under real pressure.
But the home side dealt with that pressure, scoring just five minutes later through Daniel Zaar, however, they were unable to force and equaliser, giving Farjestad the away win they will need if they are to win the series. Rogle will hope for better as the series stays in Angelholm for game two on March 26th.
HV 71 have done their usual trick, surviving in the SHL by means of winning the relegation play-out for the third season in succession. This time, they did it without losing a game, sealing the 4-0 clean sweep with a dramatic 2-1 win in overtime against Leksand, who have been relegated.
Ending a run of five successive defeats was the only option for Leksand to avoid the drop to the HockeyAllsvenskan, and they gave themselves every chance by shutting out HV for 40 minutes, as Michael Lindqvist put them ahead with 15 seconds left in the second period.
Tempers flared eight minutes into period three when five players - three from the visitors - were penalised for roughing or unsportsmanlike conduct, as Leksand maintained their narrow advantage.
However, with just 10 seconds left in regulation, Leksand hearts were broken when Jonathan Ang set up Hugo Pettersson to equalise and send the game to overtime.
In what had been a tense match throughout, it took over 10 minutes for the sides to be separated in the extra period, which was finally ended by Lukas Rousek found the net to confirm survival for the Jonkoping side with three matches to spare.