An incredible 31 minutes of overtime were needed in Vaxjo, before the home side grabbed the decisive goal to beat Lulea 4-3.
Well-beaten 4-0 and 6-2 in the first two games, the Lakers needed to find some form at home to keep their season alive, and they took the lead in the 13th minute through Robert Rosen.
They held that lead until the end of the first period, but little longer - Pontus Andreasson grabbed Lulea's equaliser in the second minute of period two.
Martin Lundberg put Vaxjo back in front, but early in the third period the match seemed to be slipping away from the hosts, when Markus Nurmi and David Lilja turned the match around, putting Lulea 3-2 up.
But Lundberg had other ideas - he was in the right place to tuck home the equaliser after Eric Martinsson's shot was deflected into his path.
20 minutes of overtime was not enough to separate the sides, thus a fifth period was needed. After 31:02 of overtime in total, Emil Sylvegard played the puck across goal and Karl Henriksson applied the close-range finish to win the match for Vaxjo.
The series now stands at 2-1 to Lulea, with game four also at Vaxjo's Vida Arena on Wednesday.
Malmo were beaten 5-1 and 4-2 in Gavle by Brynas, but responded well at home against the team who finished first in the regular season, taking a 2-0 victory.
Neither side was able to take advantage of multiple powerplays in the first period, until 16 seconds before the end of the first period, when Axel Sundberg netted for the Redhawks.
They left it until late in the second period to double their advantage, Thomas Berg-Paulsen with the goal, assisted by Fredrik Handemark.
Brynas' attack deserted them, unable to break through a well-disciplined Malmo team who did not concede a penalty from the midpoint of the match onwards.
But the home side also had to thank goaltender Oskar Blomgren, who made 31 saves in a brilliant shutout, which now sees Brynas' lead in the series cut to 2-1.
The teams stay at Malmo Arena for game four on Wednesday.