In the first SDHL game following the recent International Break, the league’s top teams met on Wednesday evening in Örnsköldsvik.

MoDo’s game plan has remained consistent all season, and relies on speed and pressure in all areas of the ice. That speed was on display early, as MoDo opened the scoring on the rush. Darcie Lappan started the play, darting over the blue line with the puck on her stick, and splitting two Luleå defenders. Unable to get a shot off, Lappan delayed to the right corner before dishing to a trailing Ella Albinsson. Albinsson’s shot was stopped by Luleå goaltender Sara Grahn but the rebound bounced to a driving Alexie Guay, who made no mistake and scored to give her team the early lead. Luleå, ever patient, evened the score late in the period when Emma Nordin charged down the right wing boards, forced her way through multiple checks, and fired a centering pass to Petra Nieminen in the slot. The pass did not meet its intended target, but rather caromed off the skate of MoDo defender Linnéa Andersson and bounced past goalie Andrea Brändli.

The second and third periods produced a handful of good scoring chances, many of them generated by Luleå’s own Finnish Flash Viivi Vainikka, but no goals. Overtime solved nothing despite a Luleå power play. In the shootout, veteran Luleå defender Jenni Hiirikoski sealed the win with a rude backhand, roofed coldly over a prostrate Brändli.

Both teams are back at it on Friday, when Luleå faces Brynäs and MoDo takes on Skellefteå.

Frölunda 5 – HV71 1

Frölunda, looking fresh after an international break that saw many of their players competing for their respective national teams, toyed with HV71, outshooting them 49-22 and cruising to a 5-1 win. HV goaltender Lina Van Noort battled all evening and kept the game closer than it should have been, stopping 14 shots in the opening frame and 19 in the second, but it was all for naught as her team could not provide goal support.

Hanna Olsson opened the scoring in the first period, assisted by Nellie Svensson and Paula Bergström. Bergström notched her second point of the evening, this time a goal, near the halfway mark of the second period to make the score 2-0. Before the ink had dried on the scoresheet, Frölunda tallied again, as Elisa Holopainen scored her tenth of the season. Ten minutes into the third period, HV finally sullied Stephanie Neatby’s clean sheet, when firefly Kennedy Bobyck, who had threatened all night, scored her sixth of the year. HV pulled Van Noort for an extra attacker, but the strategy only resulted in more Frölunda offense — Holopainen scored her second of the game and Michelle Karvinen added another before the final buzzer sounded, giving Frölunda a 5-1 win.

HV71 will need to regroup quickly, as the teams are slated for a rematch on Friday in Jönköping.