Djurgården, who were threatened with relegation, visited Leksand as second-placed but also as SHL’s strongest team. On the other side of the qualifying line, however, Malmö has also stepped up in the bottom battle.
On Thursday, the Scanians followed up the last round’s 5-2 victory against Linköping with a new big victory against the same team, won by a full 7-0 at home and thus put real pressure on Djurgården.
In Tegera arena was transformed 1-0 to 2-3 via a crazy end to the second period. After Djurgården equalized to 1-1, the away team scored two more goals in just 17 seconds via Marcus Sörensen and Niclas Bergfors. Just before the end of the second period, however, Patrik Zackrisson managed to reduce and the third goal in 40 seconds was thus a fact.
In the third period, however, Djurgården managed to secure their goal and decide the match through the new acquisition Eric Gelinas who punctured the event by pressing in 4-2.
– Every match will be “do or die” for us. We know what is at stake, we came out strong and we dictate the match, says Gelinas to C More after the victory and continues:
– Personally, I think it’s like playoff hockey. We’re chasing something that’s very important to this club’s history. If it does not matter to the players in the locker room, then something is wrong. This is very important to us.
With the victory it is still a point up to Malmö, which has one match less played, on safe ground in the table.
It was also a victory for the table-toppers Timrå who, even those with a match to spare, are three points behind Djurgården after 3-1 at home against Örebro. Thus, the position is unchanged between the three bottom layers.
However, two more teams can be sucked into the bottom battle. In addition to Linköping, Brynäs also suffered a clear loss away against Rögle (3-0), and the team is thus no more than four points above the qualifying line with four rounds left to play.
Read more:
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