Färjestad BK continued their excellent start to the 2023-24 Swedish Hockey League (SHL) by claiming two wins on the road this week.
On Thursday they got the better of Timrå IK 5-2. On paper you may have seen it as a foregone conclusion, with Färjestad having won the last eleven meetings between the two sides.
It looked like the same script was being followed when Linus Johansson’s goal four minutes into the Third Period gave Färjestad a 4-1 lead; however Timrå threw everything at their opponents from then on. Just one minute later, Emil Pettersson recorded his third goal of the season to make it 4-2 and the home team went on to out-shoot Färjestad 18-5 in the Third Period.
Unfortunately for Timrå, Goaltender Max Lagacé was in sparkling form and they were unable to get the puck past him again. Jérémy Groleau made it 5-2 late on to truly put the game on ice.
Färjestad backed up that victory with a hard-fought 2-1 win against the early SHL pace-setters Örebro.
The two teams were cancelling each other out in the First Period until the 17th minute when David Tomasek pounced to give the visitors the lead. Örebro equalised two minutes into the Second Period off the stick of Emil Larsson and the teams remained deadlocked until five minutes to go in the Third Period.
Defenseman Joel Nyström struck for his first goal of the season to give Färjestad the victory. The win leaves them on 21 points from their first 8 games, five points clear of Örebro in second place.
CHL Classic Coming?
Färjestad will try to keep the momentum going with a busy week ahead, starting with a mouth-watering Champions Hockey League game on Tuesday against Ilves Tampere.
The Finish team are tied with Växjö Lakers at the top of the CHL standings having won all four of their opening games, one of which being an Overtime victory. Nokia Arena is one of the very best venues in European hockey and Färjestad will go there full of confidence based on their recent SHL form and having recorded an 8-0 victory over Denmark champions Aalborg Pirates in their most recent CHL game on 10 September.
Lots of O’s for Oskarshamn
It’s a busy part of the season for the top teams with the CHL starting up again, but Färjestad couldn’t have wished for a better game coming off their trip to Finland than a home game against IK Oskarshamn this coming Thursday.
Oskarshamn have lost seven games in a row after winning their season-opener 3-2 in a shoot-out over Luleå HF. They are rooted to the bottom of the SHL with two points from their first eight games and have a goal difference of minus 17.
Färjestad will almost certainly take the opportunity of reducing the ice time of their leading players in the expectation that they will still have enough to claim another victory in the first-versus-last clash.
For Oskarshamn, arguably the bigger test will come on Saturday when they host fellow strugglers Malmö Redhawks. Whilst it’s still very early in the season, it feels like a big game for Oskarshamn if they are going to start to climb their way out of trouble.
Wins at the Double
Back to the more positive side, Färjestad were joined by three other teams in claiming two wins on the week.
Rögle BK were the latest team to defeat Oskarshamn (5-2 on Saturday) and this followed a nervy 1-0 victory on Thursday over Luleå, former Örebro captain Rodrigo Abols getting the only goal of the game.
Linköping HC got two much-needed wins, courtesy of a 6-3 home victory over Malmö on Thursday and then a 3-2 win in Overtime against Timrå on Saturday, and Leksands IF also earned full points on the week with wins over MoDo and HV71.
Växjö Lakers and Skellefteå tune up for CHL action
There was one bright spot for HV71 as they pulled off the result of the week by beating reigning SHL Champions Växjö Lakers 4-1 on Thursday. André Petersson scored twice to delight the home crowd at Husqvarna Garden.
It continued a mixed start to the SHL season for Växjö, who currently sit in sixth place with 4 wins, 3 losses and 1 OT loss from their first eight games.
Växjö did bounce back on Saturday with a 2-0 home win over Skellefteå AIK ahead of the two teams resuming their CHL seasons with home games on Tuesday.
Växjö will be hosting ERC Inglostadt, who have won three of their four CHL games so far this season, whilst Skellefteå welcome the 0-4 HC Košice to the Skellefteå Kraft Arena.
