Djurgården continues with an empty net, there's nothing to lose at this point. Swedes' need two goals in 16 seconds

52 seconds to go in Tommila's penalty, play continues 6on4 men on ice. Faceoff Lukko's end

Tellqvist waiting for the faceoff in the point. Djurgården plays with a empty net

Djurgården time out. Tommila's penalty was a text-book tripping, Alvarez ends up on his chest.

Offside Lukko.

Shot from a small angle resulted in a freeze and a faceoff in Djurgården's end.

Niskala levels Brodin outside the play, survives without penalties this time. Tellqvist closes for a faceoff.

A late whistle stops the play for Djurgården's icing. Lukko's net came loose.

Offside Djurgården. Power break

Teams on even strenght

Zapolski closes for a faceoff. Tonight's attendance is 2435

After a long passing drill Sörensen finds a great opening but misses by inches. Next PP rush coming

Puck over to the benches, faceoff Lukko's end.

Another save in Lukko's end. Faceoff

Sallinen shoots, Zapolski saves and closes. Faceoff Lukko's end

Offside Djurgården

Piitulainen blocks yet another and limbs back to the benches. Lähteenmäki's one-timer was denied with Tellqvist's beautiful save. Faceoff Djurgården's end

Alvarez aims top left, Zapolski blocks with the glove but puck returns in play. Game is whistled down, faceoff neutral zone.

Nurmi knocks the helmet off Englund's head. Djurgården in a slight pressure

Alvarez forces himself to the net, Lukko defense keeping scoring areas closed though. Lukko offside and a power break

Offside Djurgården. Now it's anyone's game

Rundqvist on a breakaway but the puck not getting airborne. Piitulainen blocks and receives a big slapshot on foot

Gagnon passes, Vahalahti shoots an angry slap shot over Djurgården's net. Tellqvist closes for a faceoff

Puck bounces on blue line but apparently goes over the line. Offside Lukko

Koivisto starts the period with two great chanches but team mates were not on the same page

Puck ends up in Lukko's benches, almost hits head coach Dufva. Faceoff neutral zone

Koivistoinen intercepts Djurgården's pass, fast shot but Tellqvist closes for a faceoff

Koivisto to Lähteenmäki but puck ends up to the fishing nets. Faceoff Djurgården's end

Högström's shot reflects from Zapolski's glove and Djurgården almost scores back-to-back but Lukko clears.

Fällström skates around the net but lacks finishing. Puck over the net, faceoff Lukko's end. Power break

Jaatinen fights the puck to Lukko's possession and almost send forward flying but the game is delayed for icing.

Last week's match was all about penalties. Today the theme seems to be "narrowly past the net".

Wonder what the score would be if all the wide shots were on goal. Sörensen dangles around 3 Lukko players

Sipiläinen and his saucer pass resulted in a wide shot on Djurgården's end. Icing Lukko.

Ahlén almost redirects the puck to the net, Lukko in trouble defensive-wise.

Game on Lukko's end, Zapolski closes an easy one for a faceoff. Power break.

Djurgården got some energy from the long power play, Swedes' on a slight edge now

Icing Lukko

Teams on even strenght. Gagnon close to score short handed but defense blocks. Djurgården shoots, Zapolski closes. Faceoff Lukko's end

Hultström sends a wicked shot towards Zapolski but misses the net narrowly. Faceoff Djurgården's offensive zone.

Lukko gets 4th player on ice.

Lähteenmäki breaks away after a shot from the blue line, defensemen denies.

Djurgården shows definitely better power play than home team, 4 SOG so far. Faceoff Lukko's zone.

First PP shot ends in a scramble in Zapolski's net. Faceoff Lukko's end.

Asplund forces the puck towards the net, no luck scoring. Penalty coming to Lukko

Nurmi gets to shoot between the points but misses the net.

Intentional offside Lukko. Faceoff Lukko's end.

Icing Djurgården

Tommila shoots for the logo, Tellqvist closes. Faceoff

Summary of the past 4 minutes: 3 shots on goal, two dangerous plays by Lukko, missed shot by Djurgården. Zapolski closes for a faceoff and we take a power break

Coast to coast, no stoppages for a while. The area between the blue lines is guarded well by both teams

Tommila shoots the irons and Djurgården gains possession.

Piitulainen on a high scoring slot but Tellqvist denies with the pad. Pressure is on

Vahalahti-Gagnon duo shows some nice chemistry after a weak power play effort. Game stops, icing Djurgården

Teams on even strenght

First real PP pressure by Lukko ends up in clearance. Next wave coming

Niskala shoots and the puck almost reflects behind Tellqvist, there was some luck on Swede's side

Game whistled down. Faceoff Djurgårdens end

Sipiläinen checks Anderson on open ice. Clean one

Icing Lukko. Tellqvist sure did deny Lukko's certain goal earlier. Open wide net but somehow he reaches lying down.

Brodin on a breakaway but misses the net, team mate follows up on rebound and shoots wide over the net. Power break.

What-just-happened. Arena sighs, that save by Tellqvist will end up in the highlight reel. Guaranteed. Faceoff DIF end

Nice passing by Koski, Suuronen shoots an easy one to Tellqvist. Puck now on Djurgårdens end

Lukko not getting forwards on the move. Djurgåren offside

Offside Djurgården

Another dangerous shot to Zapolski's net by Ollas Mattson. Djurgården in control

Press to Vejdemo, nice carry-on to the net but Zapolski stops the puck. Faceoff Lukko's end

Sipiläinen on a breakaway, Tellqvist denies. Game on Lukko's end

Djurgården gains possession

Nurmi with the first shot on goal of the game. Tellqvist freezes for a faceoff.

Icing Lukko.

5 minutes...

Last week Lukko came up victorious with a narrow 2-1 result. But as we know CHL playoffs is all about the total goals: Lukko advances with a tie, Djurgården need to outscore Finns with at least one goal to take this to overtime.

What an exciting evening for hockey! Both teams are finishing their warm-ups and soon the deciding game between Lukko and Djurgården will be on its way.

Starting lineups:

Lukko Rauma: Zapolski (Rinne) – Mikkola, Virtanen, Ahonen, Niskala, Tommila, Jaatinen, Sevanen – Gagnon, Nurmi, Vahalahti – Asplund, Lähteenmäki, Koivisto – Riska, Sipiläinen, Piitulainen – Suuronen, Koivistoinen, Koski. Head coach: Risto Dufva

Djurgården Stockholm: Tellqvist (Armalis) – Högström, Ollas Mattsson, Englund, Hultström, Holm, Falk, Press – Vejdemo, Alvarez, Ljungh – Rundqvist, Brodin, Sallinen – Fällström, Anderson, Sörensen – Eriksson, Ahlén, Hage, Bernhardt. Head coach: Hans Särkijärvi

Referees: Odinš (LAT), Sticker (SUI) – Nieminen, Saha (both FIN).

Lukko have a slight edge on the opponent with the last week’s victory over Stockholm-based Djurgården IF final score being 2-1. Scoring opportunities being very short with this 1/8-final pairing it is obvious that both teams have no room for error especially in defensive zone. From what we witnessed last week in Globen,

Lukko’s one goal advantage might mean more to the Finns than expected: after all Djurgården is facing Liiga’s top goalie Ryan Zapolski, who has proven himself to be one of European’s elite netminders with multiple shutouts in Liiga, CHL and most recently in US national team in German Cup against Slovakia. Lukko’s forwards have performed very consistent throughout the CHL season and in the past week they have shared the scoring responsibility equally on all 4 lines. So far results are rather convincing.

Even with the not-so-admirable stats in Swedish national league SHL Djurgården IF have a slight advantage on the ice tactic-wise. Despite sharing a border and a few centuries of history the gameplay in Finland and Sweden is quite unsimilar. When SHL combines NHL’s on-net-rushes with passive-aggressive passing play, in Liiga the 5-men-formations and conservative moving the puck to best possible shooting area is a very common strategy. Swede’s bold moves on offensive zone is in Europe’s scale intimidating and Djurgården’s TopScorer Marcus Sorensen and his squad know this very well.

Last week the refs had a busy night sending men to penalty box but PP squads were ineffective. Penalties or not this game will be one of this round’s interesting ones. Should either team advance, the spot in the quarter-finals is well deserved.

CRAMO TopScorers:

Lukko: Toni Koivisto 9 pts
Djurgården IF: Marcus Sorensen 7 pts

Welcome. Game starts at 17:30.