Mora equalizes in the match series after the decisive decision

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On Tuesday, Djurgården took home the first round of the semi-final series against Mora after turning a 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 victory in the third period.

The victory was Djurgården’s first in five attempts against Mora during the season and when the teams once again occupied Hovet on Thursday evening, the guests showed that they were not going to give up without a fight.

In an even first period, both teams created great opportunities to break the deadlock, but it would take until the start of the second before the first goal would fall.

After just 33 seconds of play, goalkeeper (!) Viktor Andrén found Marcus Krüger, who in turn freed Daniel Brodin. Free with Waltteri Ignatjew, Brodin was then able to send the lead goal into the roof of the net.

But Mora, as I said, has shown that you can disrupt Djurgården earlier in the season and after eleven minutes of play, Chad Yetman, with a quick wrist shot, was able to find a gap behind Andrén in the home goal and the equalizer was a fact.

The result then stood for the rest of the middle period and it was a completely even starting position for third.

Late decisive

There, Mora took hold of the baton and created several hot chances to decide the match during regular time. For a long time, however, Djurgården and Viktor Andrén seemed to stand on the podium and force extra time – but with three minutes left in the match, Daniel Glad was sent off for tripping and Mora had the opportunity to decide the match in a power play.

Djurgården defended in a tight box and looked to get away with an emergency call, but when the game clock ticked up to 18:29, Roope Laavainen sent a puck in front of the goal. In the mess of players, Djurgården’s Jacob Ragnarsson then happened to set up his own goalkeeper when he whipped the puck into his own goal.

When Laavainen himself was able to send in 3-1 in an empty box with eight seconds left, the match was decided. The result means that Mora has now tied the match series ahead of Saturday’s third match in Smidjegrav Arena.

– A tough match. I think the start is a big advantage Mora and I think the five-on-five game will be quite even. Then it’s the special teams game that decides it, said a frustrated Michael Holmqvist to TV4 Play after the game.