Djurgarden Stockholm open their new CHL campaign on home ice with a 4-0 shutout out the Rouen Dragons. Read more in Gamecentre.

In their first CHL game of the new season, Djurgarden Stockholm played a masterful defensive game and at the offensive end were persistent enough until their own chances finally started to go in.

For their part, the Rouen Dragons executed their game plan for most of the game, and almost escaped the second period still scoreless, despite a disparity in shots. With Djurgarden putting on pressure at the end of the middle frame, Daniel Brodin picked up a rebound and put it past a scrambling Dany Sabourin with just one second left – it was the home team's 36th shot on the French-Canadian keeper.

"I'm happy with my game," Sabourin said afterward. "There's maybe one goal I'd like to have back, but overall I think I played a good game."

"We had some trouble in the beginning and the first goal was hard to get. Then Robin Press shot and I got the rebound," Brodin described. He added a second goal in the third period: "The second goal I came from the bench and Ville Varakas made a perfect pass, and I put the puck up in the top corner." He added, "Of course it's fun to score. It's important to gain some confidence."

In the third period, things finally went Djurgarden's way, adding three goals to win without any drama at the end.  

Mikael Tellqvist only had to make 14 saves for the shutout, but was sharp when he needed to be. "I had to make some good saves. I think I had five or six really good saves," he said.

"It was a tough game for us. We knew it would be," acknowledged Rouen head coach Fabrice Lhenry. "I asked my guys to play tough defensively and I think we stuck to the plan most of the game, although we definitely made a couple of mistakes. I'm a little bit disappointed about the third period – we gave up three goals – but we still had some chances at the end, which means the guys worked the full 60 mintues, which is what I asked for at the beginning."

"It was like playing against a wall that is standing from the red line and to the goal," new Djurgarden head coach Robert Ohlsson quipped, when asked to describe the game. "Perhaps we haven't practised so much on playing such a passive opponent, but after a while we ground them down and that's important."