Frölunda Gothenburg pleased their home crowd with a dominant showing against challengers Straubing Tigers in their Champions Hockey League Round of 16 First Game last night.
The Swedes scored three goals in the middle frame and one in the final minutes of the game, ending their first meeting with the DEL side with nearly double the number of shots on goal!
Team captain Joel Lundqvist got on the scoresheet two times and his stand-out performance earned him our Play of the Night award.
"It wasn't a perfect game, but 4-0 was a great start," he said after the game, "there's still one more game to play but for sure we are in a good position ahead of next week's Return Game."
The ex-Nhler and long-time Frölunda player scored his side's first goal of the game when he redirected the puck into the back of the Straubing net after setting up the chance himself with a quick pass to teammate Patrik Carlsson.
He added his second at the very end of the second period when he launched the puck into the away team net on the powerplay from point-blank range.
Frölunda, despite playing a dominant game, had trouble with the productivity of their powerplay unit that managed to score on only one of their eight man-advantage situations.
"We had chances, but we need to be sharper on the powerplay for sure," said the 40-year-old veteran hockey player, "we could easily have scored two or three more goals, so it's definitely something we need to look at."
Is the matchup in Lundqvist's eyes already decided a scoreline like this?
"Oh no no," he said quickly, "things change fast in hockey but it is definitely a good start!"