Three points – in the first period

Björklöven took his eighth straight victory.
The league leader defeated Vimmerby 5-2 – when Axel Ottosson scored three points in the first period.
– You can be happy about the goals you score, says Ottosson in TV4’s broadcast.

IF Björklöven has had a flying start in the hockey Allsvenskan. Before Friday’s meeting with Vimmerby in Småland, “Löven” had won seven games out of seven. And after just one period against Vimmerby, they stormed towards an eighth.

It was thanks in large part to Axel Ottosson, who had already been noted for three points before the first 20 minutes of the game had been played.

Initially, the 28-year-old assisted Maxime Fortier’s 1-0 goal. Then, after Vimmerby equalized through Eddie Levin, Ottosson Björklöven restored the lead at 2-1 on a pass from Jesper Lindgren – before making it 3-1 six minutes later by poking a puck in front of goal.

– You can be happy about the goals you achieve. I have played with Jesper Lindgren for a long time, and know him quite well, so I understood that a pass would come on the far side. So it must be the favorite goal, because it was Lindgren who fit, says Ottosson after the first period in TV4’s broadcast.

Took eighth straight victory

The 3-1 goal was Axelsson’s last point of the evening – but his teammates were not done.

The Umeå team would eventually return home with a full 5-2 in the bag. Theoklis Theocharidis made it 4-1 just a minute into the second period, and with five minutes left in the third period he scored his second to make it 5-2. The goal meant that he was also noted for three points in the match, as the defender got an assist point on Ottosson’s 3-1 goal.

Vimmerby got a consolation goal through Jakob Heljemo, but the newcomer was never close to threatening Björklöven with victory. “Löven” salvaged their eighth straight victory and thus continues to top the hockey Allsvenskan table. Vimmerby, in turn, places itself in eleventh place.