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One Step Closer
Malmö have had it difficult against Skellefteå all season having been beaten on all three previous meetings of the two teams. Finally on Monday night the Redhawks claimed a well deserved victory, but what better time to claim just rewards. While Malmö were beating AIK by two goals to one Södertalje were dropping points at Leksand. With a little maths works after the game the Malmö fans all came to the same conclusion, a win against Leksand at home on Wednesday means Elitserien ice hockey in Malmö next season.
Skellefteå AIK - Malmö Redhawks 1-2 (1-2, 0-0, 0-0)
Skellefteå can also assure themselves of Elitserien hockey with a win away to Bofors on Wednesday. AIK have not played top flight hockey for eighteen years and their fans will be disappointed that they did not ensure promotion at home. Right from the start the home team made their intentions clear and piled the pressure on Corey Hirsch? net. A mistake from Edvin Frylen allowed Fredrik Krekula to slip one past Malmö?s netminder to give the hosts a one nil lead after only 2:46 on the clock. The sixty or so Malmö fans that made the long journey north looked concerned and there were anxious looks at the scoreboard to check on progress for the Leksand Södertalje match. "I was thinking beforehand that it would be terrible if we couldn?t beat Skellefteå this year. We started sloppily and gave away a goal early on, free of charge.?
Semjonovs Comes Good
Going a goal down seemed to help settle the visitors and even though Skellefteå kept the pressure on for another few minutes Malmö were starting to take control defensively and were creating chances at the other end. After 8:24 some great work by Andre Savage and particularly Jonathan Coleman saw Alexander Semjonovs equalise. Just ten minutes later Johan Björk cleared his zone, David Moravec picked up the puck played in Carl Söderbergh who made no mistake and put Malmö two one up. "Skellefteå were better than us during the Allsvenskan and they beat us fairly. But in the latest game down in Malmö I felt that when we lost a blow below the belt says "Osten, " but now we got revenge, we won fair and square."
Malmö were much more stable in the second period, especially when killing penalties. "I think there was a lot of penalty killing in the second period but I thought it was our period" claims Osten. The referee, Sjöberg, had a tough evening wit over 5200 home fans screaming at him. The Redhawks created some chances as well. Captain Riihijärvi found himself one on one with Andreas Hadelöv but was unable to capitalise. The AIK netminder kept his team in the hunt later in the third as well with a fine save from Kim Staal; Hadelöv had to sit on the puck to stop Malmö's number eight from slotting in the rebound.
The third period was a nervous affair. Skellefteå spent long periods on the attack. Corey Hirsh had a wonderful game minding the Malmö net. With Södertälje coming back from being three one down it looked like it was going to be difficult for Malmö. Skellefteå came close on a number of occasions, specifically when they hit the crossbar, but never close enough.
Malmö kept things together in the penalty kills and were aggressive both with and without the puck. "Malmö killed a lot of time for us", says AIK coach Samuelsson. "Pretty impressive I can say", when asked if he was surprised by Malmö playing defensively. "Defensive you say, I call it smart, it's a fine line."
Both coaches agreed that Malmö were worthy winners and both teams can guarantee their Elitserien places on Wednesday. Osten says "I was really happy with that win. Skellefteå still have a chance and I believe in them. I have tipped that both Malmö and Skellefteå will go up." Samuelsson says "I also believe in Malmö and Skellefteä" and smiled.
So Malmö will be hoping for a repeat of the recent result between themselves and Leksand. The Redhawks fans are certainly looking forward to a great occasion in Malmö Isstadion on Wednesday. As one fan put it on the plane back from Skellefteä "It has been a great night and we hopefully will win on Wednesday but we need to be careful, we haven't won it yet."
Follow Malmö v Leksand live on malmoredhawks.com on Wednesday.
Match pictures here from Skellefteå
Text: John Noonan
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