The battle of Germany's two Europa League participants ended all-square as Hannover and Schalke shared four goals evenly in Lower Saxony.
Teemu Pukki put Schalke in front in the 26th minute, but the home side hit straight back with an own goal from Kyriakos Papadopoulos.
Mohammed Abdellaoue put Hannover ahead in the 59th minute and the home side looked likely to increase their lead before Pukki got on the scoresheet once again to bring Schalke level and earn Huub Stevens' side a point.
Pukki put Schalke in front in the 26th minute with a fine individual goal on his starting debut for the Royal Blues.
The Finn raced away from the last two Hannover defenders before nudging the ball past the onrushing Ron-Robert Zieler and slotting it into the empty goal.
Their lead lasted only three minutes, though, before Papadopoulos headed into his own goal at the other end.
Christian Pander's free-kick from the right was heading towards Didier Ya Konan inside the penalty area, but he was nudged away by the Greek defender, who in doing so managed only to head the ball inadvertently past his own goalkeeper.
Hannover striker Abdellaoue was demanding a red card for Jermaine Jones in the 42nd minute when he tugged his shirt to prevent him a clear route to goal, but referee Wolfgang Stark only produced the yellow card.
Lars Stindl curled the resulting free-kick wide of the post.
Abdellaoue put the home side in front for the first time in the 59th minute with a header past Lars Unnerstall in the Schalke goal from Jan Schlaudraff's cross.
Pukki brought the Royal Blues level in the 73rd minute while Hannover were trying to put the result beyond any doubt.
He did not need his pace this time, but rather a neat turn and shot from eight yards out into the far corner, leaving Zieler no chance.
Schalke were now in the ascendency and Lewis Holtby twice tested Zieler, who had to be at his best to save Hannover a point at the Niedersachsenstadion, even denying Raul late on.
Your Privacy Choices | Closed Captioning 
