AIK has underperformed most of the season and finished tenth, in the last playoff spot, in the regular season.
But when the playoffs, also qualifying for the SHL, started, the team showed merciless efficiency.
AIK scored four goals on six shots in the first period.
“We couldn’t have done much better,” says AIK’s 1-0 scorer Adam Rockwood.
Almtuna came back, reduced twice and pressed hard at the end. But with the goalkeeper picked out, a late goal came when Christoffer Björk made it 5–2.
The round of 16 is decided in the best of three games and the two victories go on to the quarter-finals.
The other eighth is played between Västerås and Vita Hästen.