Björklöven broke his long streak of 119 minutes.
But it didn’t help as Djurgården won 2-1 to break their three-game losing streak.
On Wednesday evening, a new summit in the HockeyAllsvenskan awaited when Djurgården and Björklöven met at Hovet. There were two teams hungry for revenge as DIF came to the match with three straight losses, while Löven was held to a clean sheet last time against Södertälje.
It was then Djurgården that managed to break the streak by defeating “Löven” and winning 2-1 to get a greater distance down to just Björklöven in sixth place.
The home team got off to a good start and were able to take the lead after barely seven minutes of play when newly acquired Kalle Loponen walked in and scored his first goal for Djurgården in his fourth game for the team.
DIF was also the stronger team in the first period and the lead stood after 20 minutes played.
– It’s always fun to score goals and now we’re leading 1-0. I got a lot of time there. We need to be a little more accurate with the puck and get the game up to speed and it will be good, says goal scorer Loponen to TV4 during the break.
However, Björklöven needed to step up in the second period, said Daniel Rahimi, who made a comeback after suffering an injury.
– It’s great fun to be back. It feels perfectly fine and you get more and more into it. There are probably two teams that are a bit wait-and-see. Above all, I think we have more to give, we can get inside more and be more aggressive, says Rahimi.
Kalle Loponen gives Djurgården the lead against Björklöven – his first goal for the club🏒 pic.twitter.com/OvFuzcbmpM
— TV4 Hockey (@TV4_Hockey) February 28, 2024
Björklöven press – then Djurgården expanded
In the second period, Björklöven also raised his game and created a lot of chances but without getting a hole in DIF keeper Viktor Andrén. Instead, a cold shower came just before the break.
Albin Grewe was responsible for a nice pass to Olle Liss in front of the goal who was able to score 2-0 behind Niklas Svedberg with only 33 seconds left in the second period and even though Löven led the game, it was Djurgården who scored the goal.
– It was well understood by Grewe because their defenders steal a bit, so it was an open goal for me. We must stay away from the penalty box. We sporadically have some better changes in the attack zone, so we have to take that with us and remove the expulsions to minimize the time in our own zone, and this should probably end well, says Liss during the break.
Björklöven had then gone over 100 minutes without scoring when they were held to zero against Södertälje on Monday and had also failed to score in 40 minutes against Djurgården.
– We will continue as we did in others because there we were better than them. We have to get into the returns as well. We need to push in some return, boring answer, but we need to get in where the goals are scored. I think we are creating but the last part is not there, says Fredric Weigel before the third period.
Olle Liss extends for Djurgården just before the second period is over – 2-0 at Hovet! pic.twitter.com/Pjh5xfP2zA
— TV4 Hockey (@TV4_Hockey) February 28, 2024
Björklöven cracked the zero – in vain
Björklöven also chased to get back into the match, but Djurgården still had good control of the match and did not allow “Löven” to get many hot chances.
In the end, “Löven” took out the goalkeeper and then also managed to get a puck in there Fredric Weigel stayed in front and hit a rebound to break Viktor Andrén’s clean sheet. Their clean sheet then stayed for 119 minutes before they finally got to celebrate again.
It didn’t help, however, as Djurgården was able to hold on to win the match 2-1.
Djurgården has now won six of the last seven games against Björklöven. The result means that DIF looks set to finish at least fifth as they are six points ahead of Björklöven with four games left (for DIF). However, Björklöven only has three games left to play and is five points behind Karlskoga, who are in seventh place.
Djurgården – Björklöven 2–1 (1-0.1-0.0-1)
Djurgården: Kalle Loponen, Olle Liss.
Birch leaves: Fredric Weigel.
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