SHL clubs Färjestad and Skellefteå clash in Quarter-Finals
Two Swedish teams clash in the Champions Hockey League Quarter-Finals match-up between Färjestad Karlstad and Skellefteå AIK. Skellefteå are in the the top eight for the second straight year and looking to make the Semi-Finals for the first time since 2014/15, while Färjestad have made it to this stage for the first time.
Färjestad finished fourth in the CHL Regular Season with 14 points while Skellefteå were right behind them in fifth with 12. In the Round of 16, Färjestad scored a pair of two-goal victories over EHC Biel-Bienne to win 11-7 on aggregate, while Skellefteå lost the first game away to Oceláři Třinec, then came from behind on home ice to win by a total score of 8-6.
With 37 goals, Färjestad lead the CHL in that department and are tied for the best goal difference at +19. Skellefteå are +9 but have surrendered one fewer goal than Färjestad with 17.
Linus Lindström is Skellefteå’s top scorer in the CHL this season with nine points – nobody else on the team has more than Pär Lindholm’s six. Skellefteå are one of the CHL’s better shot-blocking teams, led by defencemen Axel Sandin-Pellika with 15 and Jonathan Pudas with 14. Pudas leads the team in ice time with 22:17 per game and big Elias Salomonsson has eight hits. In goal, veteran David Rautio has played five of his team’s eight games and his goals-against average of 1.41 is the best of any CHL goalie that has played that many.
Färjestad’s top scorer is Michael Lindqvist, who has six goals, eight points and is also the CHL’s co-leader in shots on goal with 29. Leading the team with six assists is defenceman Carl Dahlström, who is also one of three players on the team with seven points – the others being forwards Linus Johansson and Joakim Nygård. At +9, Nygård is tied for the CHL’s best plus-minus. In goal, Maxime Legacé and Carl Lindbom have split the duties evenly, with Legacé winning four times and Lindbom three.
This will be the first time these two teams have met in the CHL, although they obviously have a long history against each other domestically – most significantly the 2011 and 2014 Swedish Hockey League finals, with each team winning once.
This season, the two teams met in the SHL back on 16 September with Färjestad winning 4-1 at home then again on 28 September in Skellefteå, exactly one week before the First Game of the CHL Quarter-Finals, with Färjestad winning 7-4. Färjestad currently lead the SHL standings while Skellefteå are among a group of several teams battling for positioning behind them.
With so much domestic history between these two, this tie can go either way, though Färjestad have the advantage of having beaten Skellefteå two times already this season.
