No surprises when Elitserien playoffs starts

In a replay of last's year final Skellefteå plays Brynäs in the quarter finals. And this year's regular season winners took control against last year's champions with a solid 5-0 win at home ice.

Skellefteå dominated the game from the start and outshot Brynäs 41-14. It didn't help for Brynäs when Robin Jacobsson was sent off the ice with a game misconduct already after 58 seconds after a ugly check against Pierre-Edouard Bellemare who left the game bleeding.

But despite heavy momentum it took until 17 minutes into the second period for the home team to find the net. Martin Sevc was the one who did it with a hard shot. That gave Skellefteå another boost and just 59 seconds later when Elitserien top scorer Bud Holloway doubled the lead.

Petter Emanuelsson made it both 3 and 4-0 with two quick goals halfway through the third period. Holloway later added his second goal for a very solid 5-0 win. Skellefteå showed why they are favourites in the playoffs and the question is what Brynäs can do to turn this around.

Färjestad won 4-2 against MoDo in the first quarter final. The game was quite even but Färjestad was the slightly better team, much thanks to many penalties for MoDo.

Two mistakes from MoDo was decisive in this game. First Per Åslund made it 1-0 when a bounce from the boards fooled Starkbaum in MoDo's goal and later Marius Holtet made it 4-2 when Richie Regehr gave the puck away to Mikael Johansson who served Holtet for the decisive goal.

After Färjestad's early lead MoDo took the lead 2-1 after goals by Sundström and Müller. Färjestad showed strength on the power play and top scoring defender in the regular season tied the game in the second period. Early in the third Åslund scored his second goal on another power play.

"They scored two on power play, we none. That's the difference today", MoDo's captain Samuel Påhlsson said about the loss. Can MoDo stay out of the penalty box next game?

Tomorrow the other quarter final pairs, Luleå-Frölunda and HV71-Linköping will play their first game of the playoffs.

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