The beginning of any game comes with its fair share of mistakes and missed opportunities, but it’s the end result that every club is concerned with, and hopefully that result is the one you want.
When Frölunda Gothenburg lined up against Leksands IF for their First Game of the Quarter-Finals, there was no love lost between them. Despite playing well throughout the tournament thus far, the reigning Champions were guilty of committing their own errors early on according to Patrik Carlsson.
“Maybe the game was too open, there were too many chances from the start from both teams, at least from our side. We felt like we were a little bit too spread out. We wanted to play a little tighter and together offence-wise.”
Frölunda’s gap control, or lack thereof, allowed Leksand to take the lead midway through the opening stanza with a goal by Max Veronneau. Luckily, it wouldn’t take the visitors long to respond as the Kungälv-native secured the equaliser just 34 seconds later, and as the game went on, Carlsson and company began to find their groove and as they did the goals soon followed.
“The longer the game went I thought we played stronger with the puck and stronger in the D-zone. We fought better around the net and in the end it paid off for us.”
Carlsson’s tying tally wouldn’t be his only mark on the match-up as the Swede would pick up another tuck when he pounced on a rebound at 54:57 of the contest.
“Of course, it’s nice to score two goals and get off to a good start with this series here with two games,” Carlsson admitted before going on to laud his linemates' play as a whole saying, “I thought we played good with our line. It’s been better and better here the last couple of games and hopefully it continues that way.”
"Maybe we got a little bit lucky, some extra goals there, but that’s the bonus you get when you do the right things."Frölunda Gothenburg's Patrik Carlsson
For most of the match, the two teams were neck-and-neck as the scoring seemed to come in bunches, primarily in the first period. But something shifted in the final ten minutes of the game as Frölunda seemed to find their stride and with it, the win.
“We didn’t really change anything, but we wanted to do those things that I said defence-wise a little bit better, and the longer the game went that’s what I thought we did.”
Doing those things defence-wise and doing them right is what led Frölunda to their eighth Quarter-Finals victory, explained Carlsson who said, “that’s the bonus you get when you do the right things,” before he acknowledged that they, “fought for it.”
With one victory in hand and another still to go there will, naturally, be the need to prepare for next week’s tilt. Yet for Leksand, the score can be settled as soon as Thursday when the two meet in their SHL contest. This is the match-up Carlsson is concerning himself with at present, saying, “We have to focus on Leksand on Thursday in the [Swedish Hockey] League.”
As for next week’s Return Game, Carlsson sees it as, “playing another game” and plans to focus on, “how many goals we have to defend.” Just defending won’t be enough, however, and that means they, “have to play to win that game and to do the right things that we did in the end here today.”
As long as they can do the right things, Frölunda’s future looks promising with another Semi-Finals appearance within their grasp.