First game since the Abbott brothers were fired. Then Rögle won 4–3 in Växjö after penalties.
Christoffer Rifalk played great and Roger Hansson had to start his coaching comeback with a heavy away win.
Växjö–Rögle 3–4 (e. str.)
(1–1, 1–2, 1–0, 0–0, 0–2)
First period:
1–0, 10:35, Emil Sylvegård (Filip Eriksson (PP)
1–1, 12:37, Lukas Ekeståhl-Jonsson (Anton Bengtsson, Daniel Zaar) (PP)
Second period:
1–2, 1:38, Anton Bengtsson (Brady Ferguson, Linus Sandin)
1–3, 4:09, Michael Kapla (Adam Engstrom, Henry Bowlby)
2–3, 18:44, Joel Persson (Marcus Sylvegård, Dylan McLaughlin) (PP, 5 against 3)
Third period:
3–3, 14:37, Dylan McLaughlin
Penalties:
Goals: 0–1 Linus Sandin, 0–2 Lukas Ekeståhl-Jonsson
Shots: 31–20 (11–6, 8–4, 8–7, 4–2)
Departures: Växjö: 1 x 2 min. Rögle 4 x 2 min.
Public: 4533
1. The Roger Hansson effect
A week ago, the bomb dropped in northwestern Scania: The Abbott brothers were fired after six years as coach and sports director in Rögle BK.
The club’s most successful era in history was over.
Roger Hansson has both a grateful and a thankless task as the new coach.
Thankful in the sense that he is a solution in the short term (?) and that the season in the short term can’t get much worse.
Ungrateful in the sense that Cam Abbott’s shoes are huge to fill. Fair or not – There is almost no one who believes that Rögle will win SM gold with Roger Hansson at the helm.
But tonight he is a winner.
Hansson’s task was also grateful in the millimetre-short perspective, as the first match after the coach change was one of the toughest tasks of the series, away against Hansson’s old teammate Jörgen Jönsson’s Växjö, who have won nine of their last ten matches. A loss wouldn’t really have been strange.
In any case, Hans Rögle made a solid effort tonight and took the extra point in a tight match between two teams that looked like they belonged in the upper half of the SHL.
A Roger Hansson effect?
Who knows, but at least it was a good start for the club legend at the helm.
2. Rifalk’s monster save and the victory against Rieder
But you can also talk about the Rifalk effect.
The Rögle goalkeeper made a perfect effort between the posts.
Växjö tried to win by tapping into a Tobias Rieder effect, but the German came up short against Christoffer Rifalk, despite several valiant attempts:
• Rifalk’s save on Rieder’s free throw on a lateral pass early in the third period is something to clip into a postseason highlight VHS.
• He was on the scoresheet when Rieder suddenly turned his back on the goal late in the first period.
• So also early in the second when Rieder suddenly went diagonally straight in front of the goal and got into a clear position.
• And he took Rieder’s shot on a sudden free kick shortly after Växjö’s equalizer at the end of the game.
Rieder was very good.
Rifalk was better.
3. Powerplay goals
This was a match in which chances for long periods did not exist during the open game.
Rögle created opportunities via long passes from their own zone in the first and both teams managed to get into opportunities on a couple of occasions due to individual mistakes by the opponents.
Half of the goals came in the Powerplay. The Sylvegård brothers were sharp and Rifalk was forced to capitulate when the home team had to play five against three late in the second period.
For Rögle, worst in the league in PP before the match, the goalscoring was opened precisely in numerical superiority, after perhaps the best attack of the match.
Daniel Zaar lifted the puck across the offensive zone to Anton Bengtsson, who handed the puck to Lukas Ekeståhl-Jonsson. Bang 1–1. The defender slammed his first goal of the season into the back of the net. In the office in front of the goal stood Dennis Everberg and made life miserable for goalkeeper Emil Larmi.
4. Rögle solid defensively
For large parts of the season, Rögle have had problems with conceding fairly cheap goals, which has meant that they have been punished extra hard by often being ineffective on the chances they created going forward.
Today, the defensive game in front of Rifalk felt more solid than before – even though Michael Kapla fell into old sins with a simple puck drop in his own zone, which led to Växjö’s 3-3 with five minutes left.
Luckily for Kapla, he already showed his class with a nice shot to make it 3-1 early in the second, as well as several good passes.
But apart from that blunder, Rögle kept clean. The attacking players generally did a solid job in both directions, with a successful forechecking and a solid cleaning job in their own zone.
There was no flash and thunder about the Rögle offensive today – even the otherwise successful first chain was quite anonymous going forward in five on five – but RBK were strong at the back.
5. Victory – peace of mind over Christmas
Finally, two individual notes:
• Defensively, Lian Bichsel, the Dallas Stars talent who plays in Rögle for the rest of the season, was an asset in what was his third game in green and white. The 19-year-old defender is solid and, together with Ekeståhl-Jonsson, kept a clean sheet in front of his own goal in five-on-five games – even though he incurred two expulsions (one was definitely necessary).
• Further forward in the rink, 18-year-old Felix Nilsson made the most prominent match I’ve seen him play. During a spirited third period, he shot three shots in as many minutes after several strong skating raids.
The sum of the sums:
Rögle won for the first time this year away against one of the series’ best teams – the previous three away wins had come against Oskarshamn, Malmö and Luleå.
In addition to Rifalk’s saves, perhaps this even match was mainly decided by Rögle coming out energized for the second period and quickly scoring two goals and going up to a 3–1 lead. That Växjö was late out of the blocks there set the tone for the whole evening.
RBK took home two points and a dose of peace of mind for Christmas. How damn important was that?
Half the series has been played, Rögle is still eleventh in the SHL, one point from the round of 16.
But tonight the belief in Nordvästskåne that this season will turn around was strengthened.
Roger Hansson can celebrate Christmas with a small smile on his face. Then a 26-game streak awaits.
Photo: Bildbyrån
Contact details:
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2023-12-19 21:50:52
#impressions #VäxjöRögle #Roger #Hansson #effect #Skånesport
