Djurgården Stockholm mark their first ever Quarter-Finals appearance with a crucial 5-1 win over Red Bull Munich that gives them a solid advantage heading into the return game in Munich next week.

It just wasn’t Munich’s night, as it was the home side that got the game going with their intense and direct style of play from the get-go. It didn’t take them long to get their first chances of the match, but they had to wait until the seventh minute to score their first goal when Patrik Berglund broke the deadlock with his lovely redirection of the puck in front of the Munich net. Munich were quick to react as only two minutes later the game was tied again thanks to Jason Jaffray, but Djurgården were in no mood to hang aorund. Only seconds later they found themselves in a goal-scoring opportunity in front of the opposition net. Munich goalie Kevin Reich had no chance of saving Gustav Possler’s shot from the blue line due to a screen, and could just hopelessly watch the puck fly into the back of his net and earn Djurgården a 2-1 lead.

The second period started just where the first left off and after an unsuccessful powerplay for Djurgården seven minutes in, they got a chance to double their score with a breakaway at the ten-minute mark. With a bit of luck the puck slid past the Munich defenders and ended up on Kalle Östman’s stick. His calmly and precisely aimed shot slid into the right-side of Reich’s net doubling Djurgården’s lead. Four minutes later Djurgården were at it again – Tom Nilsson ended the second period's goalscoring with his side’s fourth goal of the night.

Munich were desperate to change things up in the third period and coach Don Jackson decided to call goaltender Kevin Reich to the bench and replace him with Daniel Fießinger for the remainder of the match. With their new goaltender Munich geared up for a third-period comeback playing high up the ice and holding the puck for as long as possible. Their offensive style of play was a lot for Djurgården who suddenly found themselves sitting deep and defending whilst also keeping an eye on possible breakaways, but when the opportunity arose they were prepared to react – with five minutes to go they added their fifth goal of the night to their ever-extending goal tally from a lovely counter-attack goal.

There was no further scoring as the hosts celebrated a 5-1 win, giving Munich lots to do in the return leg.