After winning by three goals in Rauma in game 1, Lulea Hockey won 2–1 on home ice to secure the win and a spot in the semi-finals.

Lulea Hockey 2–1 Lukko Rauma

Lulea win 7–3 on aggregate | WATCH highlights here

by Derek O'Brien

LULEA – From their experience in the previous round against Red Bull Salzburg, Lulea Hockey knew that their three-goal aggregate lead on home ice was not a sure thing. They also knew, however, that the longer the game went without a goal, the better their situation was. So things were looking good already with the score still 0–0 past the game's midpoint. When they added two goals in the final six minutes of the second period, it would have taken a collapse of Salzburg proportions to let a semi-final berth escape their grasp.

That didn't happen, though, as they locked down the third period, in what was a very defensive game all around. Lulea's two goals were scored just 18 seconds apart, and both assisted by Cam Abbott. The first was a power-play goal as Markus Fagerudd's slapper from the point through traffic beat Oskari Setanen, and then Abbot found brother Chris with a lead pass and his wrister from the left wing off the far post and in gave his team a five-goal aggregate lead with a period to play.

"I do not score too many goals from that far out," Chris said about his goal. "I got a good pass from Cam, and used the defenceman as a screen on the shot. After that it was really nice to hear the sound of the puck hitting the post and going in."

"It wasn't easy coming into this game knowing we first of all had to catch up the three goals against them. And when they got a two-goal lead in this game it didn't get any easier," Lukko's Toni Koivisto said about the uphill climb his team faced. "But at least we finished well and scored a goal."

Lukko tried in vain to mount an offensive in the third period, though they did manage to break Joel Lassinantti's shutout with 46 seconds to play, when Jonne Virtanen made a nice move to beat the goalie, but it was far too little, far too late. 

"Tonight's game was just the kind of game we wanted to have – we had a three goal advantage after the first game – and we did a good job getting the first goal and then shutting this game down," Chris Abbott said about Lulea's overall effort. "It is really special for our organization to once again be among the top four teams in Europe. It is something that we focused on achieving when we went into this season. And now we are really excited to play the in semi-finals."