Seven points in four games and third in the table. But ahead of the meeting with Linköping, coach Roger Rönnberg was clear that his Frölunda have so far not reached the high standards both leaders and players have set for themselves.
Struggled? Absolutely. Picked up some points? Certainly. But played good ice hockey? Not directly.
The question is whether the match against Linköping cleared up particularly many question marks. Because it was an event strongly marked by expulsions, game interruptions and jerky hockey.
Frölunda went on to win, conceding a late equalizing goal but eventually won the decisive penalty shootout.
Match penalty
Frölunda has long had problems in numerical superiority – those problems initially continued on Tuesday in a first period where Linköping incurred countless expulsions. Jesper Pettersson received, among other things, a five-minute expulsion and a match penalty after a tackle on Jere Innala.
Even when Linköping was reduced to three players on the ice, the puck didn’t want to go into the goal. At the same time, Linköping’s goalkeeper Marcus Högberg made several high-class saves.
“Five on five, we do it just fine, but it’s hard to win games when you sit in the booth so much,” said Linköping’s Christoffer Ehn to TV4 Play during the period break.
Jere Innala was tackled hard by Jesper Pettersson. Three tough away games
With Pettersson sent off, Linköping could finally hold out no longer. At the start of the second period, Jere Innala first made it 1-0 before 18-year-old David Edstrom extended the lead shortly afterwards.
Arvid Aronsson gave the away team contact when he tunnelled an obscured Lasse Johansson into Frölunda’s goal. With just over two minutes left to play, Broc Little then equalized.
Max Friberg had a chance to score the victory for Frölunda on penalties. Once again, Marcus Högberg made a fine save and the match was thus decided via penalty shootout.
For Linköping, the game in Gothenburg was the first of three tough away games. Later in the week, the team meets Färjestad and Luleå. Frölunda, in turn, plays against Växjö.
In Tuesday night’s second game, Modo ran over HV71 completely on home ice. The newcomer won by a whopping 6-1 after going from 4-0 already after half the match.
— 50 minutes into this match we are the better team, says Modo’s team captain David Rundblad to TV4 Play.