Skellefteå first to the SHL semis

18 Mar 2015Henrik Lundqvist»

As expected the regular season winner and last season's champion Skellefteå had no problem to eliminate Brynäs in the SHL quarter finals. Skellefteå won 4-0 (4-1, 4-2, 3-2OT, 6-2) to be the first team to reach the semis. Luleå is also close - after 3-2 against Frölunda tonight they lead the series 3-1.

Brynäs - Skellefteå 2-6 (series 0-4)
Brynäs needed to win tonight's home game against Skellefteå to stay alive but when Skellefteå scored four goals in six minutes in the second period it was all over. Five different Skellefteå players scored their first goal of the playoffs tonight while Andrew Calof scoed his third. Markus Svensson guarded the net all four games of the series and made 19 saves in game four.

Luleå - Frölunda 3-2 (series 3-1)
Johan Harju scored the game-winning goal for Luleå at 37:03 to take them to a golden opportunity to make it to the next level. Per Ledin scored 1-0 for the home team but Mattias Janmark and Joel Lundqvist gave Frölunda a 2-1 lead with poer-play goals. After Frölunda's 2-1 goal Luleå needed only 3:18 before Lars Bryggman ans Johan Harju had scored to get the lead that lasted until the end. If Luleå makes it to the semis they will get to play Skellefteå.

Linköping - HV 71 2-3 (series 1-2)
Yesterday HV 71 managed to get the first away win of the series against Linköping when they won 3-2 in Saab Arena. Eric Christensen, Jere Karalahti and Anton Bengtsson scored for the winning side.

Växjö - Örebro 1-0 OT (series 2-1)
Jeff Tambellini was the only scorer of this game which saw 63 minutes of play without any goals. Cristopher Nihlstorp in Växjö's net made 21 saves while Julius Hudacek in Örebro's made 25.

In the qualification to SHL Leksand beat Malmö in overtime to tie the series at one. In the other series MODO leads 1-0 over Vita Hästen and Rögle 1-0 over Västerås. Karlskrona already won promotion from HockeyAllsvenskan.