Weekly Recap: Three Sweeps

Quarterfinals

This weeks action resulted in a lot of fans being very happy and a lot of fans being disappointed and watching their teams season come to an early end. All in all three out of the four quarterfinals ended in sweeps, one in particular was especially surprising. 

Rögle came into the week with a 2-0 series lead over regular season winners Färjestad after coming away with two big wins in Karlstad. They were hoping to return home and put on a good show for their hometown fans, which is exactly what they did. Both games resulted in overtime being needed, and game three was especially long as it took almost two and half extra periods before Rögle was able to find the back of the net and take a 3-0 strangle hold on the series. Game fours overtime was decided much quicker as it took less than five minutes into the extra frame before Rögle sealed the deal and came away with the shocking first round sweep of Färjestad. This was also a historic loss for Färjestad as they became just the third regular season winner to be swept in the first round of the playoffs. Being the lowest seed in the post season means Rögle is going have a tough road ahead of them if they hope to go all the way. The semi final round kicks off on Friday evening and they will be facing off against the Växjö Lakers. 

Rögle is heading to the semifinals.

Despite their best efforts in game three and four, Linköping just wasn't able to put together a win in their first post season appearance since 2018. They had multiple big comebacks to force overtime in the series and, in fact, three out of the four games required extra time. Game three saw them erase a 3-0 lead in the third period, only to suffer a heartbreaking loss late in triple overtime. Game four was also an extremely tight contest with the game winning goal coming with just over five minutes remaining in the third period. Skellefteå would secure the win with another late goal and come away with the 2-0 shutout victory to complete the sweep. 

- It's empty, I know what I'm thinking about. I'm proud of my team, but very disappointed that we didn't get a single win. It is probably difficult to play better than we did and still not win a single one of these four games. It is heavy, comments Linköping's Klas Östman.

Linköping is out of the playoffs.

The Växjö Lakers are the defending champs and are looking for their third title in just four years. They're off to a good start as well as they had very little trouble against Luleå. The lone small hiccup came in game four when Luleå played exceptionally well, only to lose in overtime. In the third period alone Luleå outshot the Lakers 17-1 but could not ripple the mesh to break the deadlock. It took just over ten minutes in the extra frame for Växjö to find the game winner and move onto the semi finals. 

- It's a shame. We play our best game, especially at the end. Växjö is better than us in the first three games, but we still have the chance. Today we should have taken it. We face a good team who are merciless when we make mistakes. We simply lose to a better team, clearly, says Thomas Berglund.

With the loss, SHL veteran and long time Luleå skater Jack Connolly played his last game. He announced earlier this season that he would be retiring. Connolly, who has the most games played in the SHL for a North American born skater, played in two SHL finals during his career but lost in both. He finishes with a total of 545 regular season games and 79 post season games. 

Jack Connolly has playes his last SHL game.

The only series that remains to be decided is the one between Frölunda and Leksand as both teams have been playing well. The series has been back and forth, and will be decided in a seventh game Wednesday.