Lulea Hockey will host Frolunda Gothenburg in the CHL final on 3 February. However, 12 days before the big game, Frolunda were the hosts as the two teams met in SHL play, and emerged with a 4–1 win.

by Derek O'Brien

GOTHENBURG – Twelve days before the two teams will square off in the Champions Hockey League final in Lulea, Lulea Hockey and and Frolunda Gothenburg met in Gothenburg. The stakes were different in this dress-rehersal of sorts, as it wasn't the European club championship at stake, but rather three points in the Swedish Hockey League standings. It was Frolunda taking all three points with a 4–1 victory.

The last goal of the game might not have meant the most as far as who won and lost, but it was sure what most people were talking about afterward. With Frolunda leading 3–1 in the last minute of the second period, Magnus Kahnberg took a lead pass from Mats Rosseli-Olsen and skated in alone on Lulea goaltender Niko Hovinen, beating him under the arm to make it a 4–1 score. 

The 34-year-old Kahnberg was so happy he jumped into the side glass before being mobbed by his teammates. And why not? For the normally productive right winger, this was his first goal in what has been a very trying season.

"Right now it's by far the sweetest goal I've ever scored. It's nice to crack the zero," an elated Kahnberg told SHL.se said after the game. "I've waited a long time for this."

Kahnberg once scored 33 goals in 50 games for Frolunda back in the 2003–04 season, and last year tallied 18 times. However, this season he was injured in Frolunda's first CHL game against Geneve-Servette and was out of the lineup for several weeks. Since coming back, he just hasn't been able to get back on track, but maybe this is the spark that will inspire him. 

"I think all of us on the bench were just as happy as he was," said Frolunda assistant coach Robert Ohlsson. "He's battled hard this season and it was just great to watch him finally score and you could tell that all of the fans in the crowd were happy as well."

Kahnberg also assisted on Nicklas Lasu's game-winning goal midway through the second period. Before this game, he had contributed thee assists in his first 21 SHL games this season. He also has one assist in seven CHL games. 

Max Gortz, who has had a much more successful season offensively, also contributed a goal and an assist to Frolunda's victory. He scored the game's opening goal at 4:45 when he beat a Lulea defenceman with a nice move and then Hovinen with a long wrister. In the second period, he fired a slapper off the pad of Hovinen which led to CHL co-scoring leader Andreas Johnsson scoring on the rebound to make it 3–1. 

"Well, it was a hard shot, so he just couldn't handle it," Gortz joked about his goal, before explaining, "Nah, that was a shot just over the leg pad and that's usually where they go in."

Gortz now has 18 points (9+9) in 38 SHL games. He has 14 points (6+8) in 12 CHL contests.

Lulea tied the game at 1 on the power play a few minutes after Gortz's goal. Cam Abbott carried the puck down the right wing and fed Peter Celharik in front with a backhand pass, who one-timed it past Linus Fernstrom from close-range. It was the only goal to beat the Frolunda goalie on 18 shots.

At the other end, after getting beaten for four goals on 13 shots in the first 40 minutes, Hovinen was lifted in favour of Joel Lassinantti in the third period. Lassinantti handled the only two shots he faced in his time. It will almost certainly be Lassinantti that gets the call for Lulea in net for the CHL final  – as Hovinen played two CHL games for Red Bull Salzburg before moving to Lulea on 27 December, he is ineligible to play for his new team in the European competition.

Lulea coach Joakim Fagervall was not impressed with the play of either team, particularly his own. "I think Frolunda played rather edgeless and somehow we managed to play even more edgeless. Unfortunately I don't think we ever improved to a decent level, which dissapointed me as I figured this game would be a teaser and appetizer to the upcoming final in the Champions Hockey League.

"Overall it was a bad effort from us and, even though Frolunda weren't at their prime today either, they managed to win by three goals."

"I don't think we played a bad game, I just think none of the teams geared up to take the advantage which caused a low-speed game," Ohlsson responded, before offering his own explanation for the relatively low level of intensity in the game. 

"Each team played an intense semi-final game just two days ago though, so that was probably why," he said, referring to Tuesday night when Lulea needed a one-goal victory over Skelleftea to advance to the final and his own team an overtime goal to advance past Karpat.  

This was the fourth time this season that Frolunda and Lulea have faced off in SHL action and the first that was decided by more than one goal – overall Frolunda took 7 of 12 points in the season series. With three points from this game, Frolunda are now second place overall with 69 points, while Lulea are mired in eighth with 56 points. 

The two teams now each play four more SHL games before they meet again in Lulea on 3 February.