The semi-final between Frolunda Gothenburg and IFK Helsinki went right down to the wire, with Robin Figren scoring the dramatic series-winner in the final minute to put Frolunda through
Frolunda Gothenburg 5–3 IFK Helsinki
Frolunda win 6–5 on aggregate
by Luke Fisher, quotes from Efraim Larsson
GOTHENBURG – A real roller-coaster of a game saw Frolunda Gothenburg advance to the semi-finals of the CHL, thanks to a 5–3 win on the night. That margin of victory gave the Swedish club a 6-5 win on aggregate, with Robin Figren's second goal of the game with only 50 seconds to play making the difference.
"I think we played an okay game in Helsinki last week but we were much better today, especially offensively," Frolunda head coach Roger Ronnberg said afterward. "I mean, we scored five goals today and I think that we managed to get our winning mentality back today."
Frolunda came back to home ice trailing their Finnish opponents by a single goal, after IFK Helsinki's 2–1 win one week ago in the Finnish capital. Mats Rosseli-Olsen put Frolunda back on even terms in the tie with just under five minutes remaining in the first period, and in the middle session the home side extended their lead to 2-0 on the night through Andreas Johnsson. That goal also gave Frolunda the aggregate 3-2 lead, but their joy was short-lived as HIFK hit back some five minutes later through Robert Leino to end the second period at 2–1, 3–3 overall.
That meant that the third period would be the decided, and what a ding-dong encounter it turned out to be! First Corey Elkins put HIFK ahead on aggregate at 44:04, only for Figren to tie it three minutes later – making it 4-4 on aggregate, but 3–2 Frolunda on the night. Just 1:21 later, Mathis Olimb shot the home side ahead on aggregate again – this time 5–4. Again Helsinki refused to back down, though. Leino scored his second of the game at 52:22 to tie it up once more, and the game looked to be heading to overtime.
"It was very difficult for us, but you have to keep in mind that it’s even more difficult for them (HIFK) and that’s the big difference, when you notice that they are starting to make a lot more mistakes and so," Ronnberg said, comparing how the two teams handled the pressure of the big game. "But I suppose that’s exactly what these kinds of games are there for, to keep a winning mentality in tight games like this when a goal can have devastating consequences. But I think our young team handles those games overall really good and we learn from every game how to play and remain focused."
As the clock ran down, HIFK killed off a 5-on-3 Frolunda power play to stay in the game, but there was still drama to come. At 58:50 on the clock Elias Falth was called for high-Sticking, putting the home side down to four men for the remainder of the third period. However, a call was them made on the Helsinki bench for too many men on the ice, meaning that the power play was wiped out and the remaining 1:10 would be played 4-on-4. It was the Frolunda who made the extra room on the ice count – Figren scoring again with 50 seconds left on the clock, and despite Helsinki pulling their goalie they were unable to find an equaliser.
"Haha, what can I say? I think it was a great goal," a happy Figren said when asked about his series-winner. "Mattias (Janmark) is a little known for his skill in taking control of the puck and can turn games around because of that, so you have to hang in there and follow up in the attack which was mostly what I tried to do and we managed to get a little give-and-go situation and, to be honest, I don’t really remember how the goal occurred. But somehow it went in and maybe it was one of those pucks that didn’t go in recently but did today instead."