Twelve seconds had passed in the game.
Then Djurgården’s Wiktor Nilsson received a match penalty – with a tackle that sent hockey Sweden into a frenzy.
– There is no defense, says TV4 expert Fredrik Söderström.
Djurgården had lost two straight games in the hockey Allsvenskan final series against Brynäs, in the battle for which team will play in the SHL next season. Now the series had turned to Hovet, and home ground, but it was a most unexpected start to the third game in the series.
Great criticism
Almost immediately after signing, which Brynäs won, Simon Bertilsson got the puck behind his own goal. When he had played it away, Djurgården’s Wiktor Nilsson came with great speed, and he jumped in with an elbow tackle to Bertilsson’s head. The Brynäs defender became groggy, and Djurgården was awarded a match penalty after only twelve seconds of play.
In TV4, the expert Fredrik Söderström was very critical.
– There is no defense for that. That’s far from what it’s supposed to be. I think you are overwhelmed and want to go out and put pressure. I don’t think there is anyone who thinks anything other than that it should be a five-minute show, he says.
The coach’s unexpected words
Söderström understood that Djurgården was trying to put pressure on Brynäs, and give energy, but that it was a real slip.
– The physical game is important, there is a fine difference between a good tackle, a heavy tackle and an idiotic tackle. You can’t afford to overplay that, so to speak.
When Djurgårds coach Michael Holmqvist got the chance to comment on the tackle on TV4, he chose, unexpectedly enough, to say that “the purpose was fulfilled”.
– We have two hungry guys who want to get fit and create good energy at Hovet. I think we succeed in that. Then it is unfortunate that there will be an expulsion, but the purpose was fulfilled by creating energy and pressure in the arena and pressure in the stuff, he says after the match.
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