Liberec goalie Roman Will was busy, but Farjestad Karlstad only managed two of the three goals they needed, so Bili Tygri are through despite getting shut out. Read more in Gamecentre. 

by Dominik Jakubec

With just 11 shots on goal from Farjestad Karlstad in the first game, Bili Tygri Liberec goalkeeper Roman Will was not very busy a week ago. However, this changed in the second game. After the visiting team's initial offence, Farjestad took the turn and Rasmus Asplund had a big chance to score. He found himself alone in front of the crease, but Will's huge glove save prevented him from opening the game's scoring.

"I don't think we played too bad, but maybe we kind of had it in our heads that we didn't need to score, we just needed to keep it out of our net," Will said of his team's lack of offence. "But anyway, we did it. Nobody cares now if we won the second game or not. Our goal was to advance and we did."

The Swedish team outshot Liberec 8-4 in the first period, yet it was Dominik Lakatos who was very close to scoring. After a great pass from behind the net, he hit the post. While the game was still tied after the first period, the score changed after just 40 seconds into the second. On a shorthanded breakaway, Joakim Nygard gave Will no chance with his wrister.

One goal was still not enough for Farjestad, as they still trailed by two on aggregate. The home team pushed forward, but Liberec's goalie stopped Jonas Holos's slap shot. The reigning Czech champions could have gone back up by three just 10 seconds before the end of the second period, but Jan Ordos's deke attempt on a breakaway failed.

Just 20 minutes away from elimination, Farjestad were not in an easy postion. Liberec's defence was well organized and was not letting the home team's players into scoring positions. It could have been worse for Farjestad, but Lars Haugen came up big with a huge save off Milan Bartovic, who scored two twice in the first game.

Just eight minutes before the end, Milan Gulas hit Jan Stransky in the head, which led to a major penalty and game misconduct to Farjestad's Czech forward. Thanks to Haugen, Liberec did not manage to score on the power play, but with only three minutes remaining, they seemed to have little chance to score two more goals. 

However, all of a sudden 92 seconds prior to the end, Magnus Nygren scored and the home team was just one goal from tying the score. But the Czech champions did not allow any further drama and secured their way to the top 16.

"It certainly was nervous!" Will said about the game's final moments. "They got a strange goal ... I probably should have had it. They have a very strong team, and suddenly it was only one goal, but we showed our resilience and kept them from getting another."