The 2023-24 Swedish Hockey League play-offs got off to an exciting start on Thursday evening as Örebro and Rögle delighted their home fans with victories.
Örebro left it late to qualify for the play-offs, snatching the final place on goal difference after winning a penalty shoot-out against Linköping on the final evening of the regular season. Now that they are in the mix, you fancy that they may take a run at the post-season and that was in full evidence last night against Luleå.
The two teams traded goals in the Second Period, Danick Martel for Örebro and Oskari Laaksonen for Luleå, and both had chances in the Third Period to break the tie; however, it was Örebro who came out on top thanks to Samuel Johannesson’s goal six and a half minutes before the end.
The best-of-three series now moves on to Luleå for Game Two on Saturday and the hosts will have to deal with the pressure of needing a win to keep their season alive.
That’s a tough spot for any team, but there’s an edge to it for Luleå given that a seventh-placed finish was below their expectations. It’s been a mixed campaign for them, including fan protests and a financial dispute with some of the players, and an early exit from the play-offs will only stoke the fire of discontent that has been smouldering for several months.
Rögle are another team who are looking for a play-off run to turnaround a disappointing season that saw the Abbott brothers (Head Coach Cam and General Manager Chris) dismissed in mid-January.
They got off to the perfect start at Catena Arena against Timrå on Thursday with an impressive performance and an excellent 4-1 victory.
Timrå scored the goal of the game, a wonderful solo effort by Filip Hållander in the First Period to give them a 1-0 lead. That was where the good news ended though as Rögle scored twice in the Second Period, through Daniel Zaar and Albin Sundsvik, to make it 2-1 and then got two additional goals late on as Timrå tried to get back into it.
As with Luleå, it’s now on Timrå’s shoulders to bounce back on Saturday at home to keep the series alive.
I followed both games live on the YouTube channel, and you can see the live-stream here:
