Saturday afternoon brought the second game-day in the best-of-three R16 Play-Off series in the Swedish Hockey league.
It proved decisive in the match-up between Rögle and Timrå, with the former winning 3-2 to secure a 2-0 series win, whilst Luleå beat Örebro 3-0 to set up a Game Three decider on Monday evening.
Home teams needing a win
Having lost the opening game 4-1 on the road, Timrå needed to make home advantage count against Rögle and the sell-out crowd certainly did their bit to inspire their team.
Unfortunately for them, Rögle scored two goals in 80 seconds during the First Period to jump out to an early 2-0 lead against Timrå. Dennis Everberg got the first, assisted by Brady Ferguson and Linus Sandin, before Albin Sundsvik got his second goal in as many games after Simon Forsmark was put into the penalty box for tripping.
Timrå had an opportunity to get back into the game a few minutes later when Henry Bowlby was sent to the box for knocking Jeremy Boyce’s stick out of his hands, but they were only able to muster one shot on net, which was dealt with by Christoffer Rifalk, and trailed 2-0 at the end of the First Period.
Meanwhile, the first 20 minutes ended goalless in Luleå, although that wasn’t through lack of effort by the home team. They out-shot Örebro 12-4 in the First Period, aided by a couple of powerplays; however they were unable to get past Jonas Arntzen in the Örebro net. He was helped out by some committed defending in front of him, Filip Berglund twice putting his body on the line to block shots during one powerplay and then forward Danick Martel following his lead with his own block on a goal-bound effort.
Decisive Moments
In the Second Period, both series took a decisive turn almost in synchronicity in real time. 19-year-old Axel Smeds scored Rögle’s third just as Jack Connolly was breaking the deadlock for Luleå in Northern Sweden.
The goals had significant impact on the home crowds. In Timrå, the chanting that was trying to power a comeback from a 2-goal deficit started dying down as the home fans sensed that it wasn’t going to be their afternoon. In contrast, Lulea’s already loud crowd exploded at their team taking the lead, confident that this was the start of them forcing a Game Three decider on Monday evening.
That confidence was justified less than four minutes later when Connolly doubled Luleå’s lead. His second goal owed much to good fortune as his shot cannoned out of Jonas Arntzen’s glove, hit Örebro defender Samuel Johannesson on the back and then ricocheted into the net.
Örebro Out of Ideas
It was terrible luck for Örebro, yet in truth they had struggled to get their game going, mustering only 5 shots on goal to Luleå’s 16 at that point, and bad luck can haunt you when you’re constantly second to every puck.
That continued despite Örebro having the chance to get back into the game two minutes later thanks to a tripping penalty on Jesper Sellgren. Their powerplay was the worst in the SHL during the regular season, at 15.24%, and whilst they got a couple of shots on target, it wasn’t the sustained spell of pressure on Joel Lassinantti’s net that was needed.
Their shyness in front of goal was exploited a few minutes later when Juhani Tyrväinen stole the puck in his own zone, skated down the other end of the ice and unleashed a wrist shot into the top corner to make it 3-0 to Luleå. It was a deficit that Örebro never looked like clawing back.
Timrå Proud in Defeat
Although Timrå were also 3-0 down, the shape of their contest against Rögle was quite different. Timrå were comfortably out-shooting their opponents and finally got the puck past Rifalk with 5:15 to go. Jonathan Dalén scored on the powerplay just a few seconds after Rögle’s Anton Bengtsson had hit the post with an empty-net effort.
The experienced Dennis Everberg then took a needless high-sticking penalty 200 feet from his own goal to give Timrå further hope. They pulled their goaltender again, Rögle hit the post shooting at an empty-net again, and Magnus Pääjärvi immediately went up the other end of the ice and slammed the puck past Rifalk to make it 3-2 with 2:52 to go.
It set up a grand-stand finish, with the Timrå fans having found their voices again and desperately willing on their team to get an equaliser. Anton Lander and Jonathan Dalén both went heart-stoppingly close, but the puck refused to go in and the 0-3 deficit ultimately proved too big of a hole for them to climb out of, despite out-shooting their opponents 43 to 11.
Advantage Luleå?
Rögle were able to make the most of their low shot count to advance to the Quarter Finals in a 2-0 series sweep.
Örebro were not able to copy their trick and now have to go again on Monday evening against a confident Luleå side who will have a sold out home crowd behind them. You would have to make Luleå favourites, but perhaps there will still be a twist in the tail?
