Färjestad have led the way in the Swedish Hockey League for most of the season, but there’s a new team at the top on Thursday night.
Växjö Lakers’ 4-2 victory against MoDo, combined with Färjestad’s 3-0 defeat to Skellefteå, has lifted the reigning champions into the league lead by two points. Marcus Sylvegård scored twice for Växjö, whilst Buffalo Sabres prospect Noah Östlund collected two assists, as they made it four wins from their last five games.
Växjö will look to build on this momentum on Saturday when they face the struggling Örebro. Bringing back their previous Head Coach Niklas Eriksson did not pay immediate dividends for Örebro on Thursday as they suffered a demoralising 2-0 home defeat against bottom club Oskarshamn. Emil Kruse kept a clean sheet whilst Johan Johnsson and Austin Wagner both collected their fifth goals of the season.
Oskarshamn still have a large nine-point gap to make up on 12th-placed Malmö if they are to avoid the relegation play-off, but 13th-placed HV71 will fancy their chances of getting out of trouble after securing a 5-3 win at Husqvarna Garden over Malmö. Simon Önerud scored twice as HV71 brought themselves to within one point of their opponents with a game in hand. There’s still a long way to go in the season, but coming out on top in a fabled ‘six-pointer’ will do wonders for their confidence whilst making Malmö nervous.
We’ll see how the Redhawks respond to the pressure on Saturday when they host Luleå at Malmö Arena. Their opponents made it three wins in a row on Thursday thanks to a Brendan Shinnimin goal just 24 seconds into Overtime away to Rögle to take a 2-1 victory.
Rögle’s task on Saturday will be to bounce back with a winning visit to Karlstad; however Färjestad will be determined to show that their demotion from the top of the table is just a short-term blip.
