Ahead of Saturday's meeting, the bottom team had five straight losses and six points up to safe ground.
Just before the break, the uphill climb to a new contract became even steeper for the newcomer, when Kalmar's Lars Sätra nodded in the lead goal.
Kalmar, who is at the top of the table, also looked to get all three points.
After 89 minutes, Axel Lindahl sent the corner kick right to Anthin van den Hurk who headed it sharply past the keeper.
A chance he took advantage of.
"May blame ourselves"
The goal was the Dutchman's third straight at Olympia, and meant an important point for Helsingborg in the bottom battle.
After the match, Kalmar's coach Henrik Ryström was disappointed.
- In the second half, there is no structure, and we are a team that wants it.
These are mostly long balls and duels, it is not a match picture we want.
We have to blame ourselves for ending up there, says Rydström.