Oscar Möller says that Skellefteå has a tight group that can achieve something good when they come together as a unit.
“Now we’re going to regroup and polish the details, then it’s just a matter of driving again,” he says.
Rögle was whipped to win to keep the quarter-final series alive and force a seventh and decisive match in Skellefteå. But also had to do without the team’s top scorer. Adam Tambellini took an elbow to the head in game five and therefore watched the drama from the sidelines.
The place in the star chain with Dennis Everberg and Anton Bengtsson went to Oskar Stål-Lyrenäs.
The replacement expired
In addition to Tambellini, Rögle was missing the faithful Daniel Zaar and the full-back Eerlend Lesund. It didn’t take long before the situation worsened further. Tambellini’s replacement Oskar Stål-Lyrenäs was forced to leave just over three minutes into the match, after receiving a club in the face.
He hadn’t had time to return before Joakim Lindström scored 1-0 for the visitors and the nightmare start was complete. The goal meant that Lindström is the third best playoff scorer in the SHL of all time, two goals behind Håkan Loob and eight behind Jörgen Jönsson.
Skellefteå had dramatically turned around and won game five. After a period, they now had an excellent position to become “party poopers” in Ängelholm and advance to the semi-finals.
— Good goal. The goalkeeper leaves a lot of rebounds and we took advantage of that, said the 1-0 scorer in C More’s half-time interview.
Two goals by Möller
At the end of the first period, Rögle had twice failed to score in the power play. When the home team was caught with too many players on the ice, and Skellefteå got the chance at the beginning of the second, it narrowed right away. Goal scorer: Jonathan Pudas.
Stål-Lyrenäs came back into play and took Tambellini’s place also in the power play. With a hard sledgehammer it was he who reduced. The roof lifted. The home fans had been given new hope – but only for a while.
Two seasons ago, Rögle went to the final. Last year they fell in the semi-finals against future champions Färjestad. When Oscar Möller made it 3-1 barely two minutes into the final act, it felt like the nail in the coffin for the year. The goal was the in-form captain’s sixth goal in the quarter-final series. When he also scored his second of the evening, the matter was definitely settled. Skellefteå also managed a fifth goal.