Skelleftea AIK beat JYP Jyvaskyla 4-2 in the return leg, but that wasn't enough to overcome the four-goal deficit they incurred a week ago. Therefore, it's JYP who are moving on. Read more in Gamecentre. 

by Karolina Antosova

Games between Swedish and Finnish teams are always tough, and this game wasn’t an exception. Skelleftea AIK had a really hard job because the result from the first game wasn’t promising – they 4-0 in Jyvaskyla, but there was still a chance to make it to the Round of 16.

But JYP did a proper job throughout all three periods. Skelleftea started very offensively, collected one shot after another. JYP defended quite well, but also took two penalties. Thanks to a solid Finnish defence, they killed both of them. 

“It was tough at the beginning of the game,” admitted JYP head coach Marko Virtanen.

Skelleftea didn’t give up and halfway through the first period scored the first goal. Niclas Burnstrom deflected Joakim Lidstrom’s pass into the net with his skate, but the referees saw no intention or kicking motion, so it was allowed.  

Although the Swedish team played very well on offence, problems were in front of Gustaf Lindvall. They didn’t play that solid in front of the own net and commit couple of big mistakes. After the first one, Joonas Nattinen made it 1-1.

The second period was really up-and-down hockey. JYP played really offensively, had many chances, but it was Skelleftea who scored twice – Joakim Lindstrom made it 2-1 and Sebastian Aho 3-1. At the end of the period, Skelleftea were on fire and were awarded with a power play in which they were close to another goal, which would have closed the aggregate difference. But instead, they made another mistake, and Ossi Louhivaara scored a short-handed goal.

Skelletfea tried hard in the third period and Sebastian Ohlsson scored their fourth, but it wasn’t enough. The JYP players did their jobs properly and, thanks to solid defence and almost no mistakes, advanced to the next round with a 6-4 win on aggregate. 

“It’s really really important for our club that we’ve made it to the next round,” added Virtanen with a huge relief. His team will compete in the Round of 16 against SC Bern from Switzerland.