Malmö Redhawks' dream start in Luleå ended in a 3–5 loss, wrapping up their six-game road trip. Despite a strong effort and a tie in the third period, Luleå pulled ahead with late goals. Coach Tomas Kollar calls it a sour defeat but praises the team's character.
Malmö Redhawks' six-game road trip ended with a loss to Luleå in the SHL. The game in Luleå started perfectly for Redhawks as Axel Sundberg scored just 20 seconds in.
"Ja, det var väl en god start får man ju säga," says Sundberg.
Luleå tied it, but Fredrik Händemark made it 2–1 on the power play with one second left in the first period—his 100th SHL goal. Carl Persson reached the same milestone earlier in the week.
The second period turned physical. Luleå's Frédéric Allard received a match penalty for a head check on Janne Kuokkanen, giving Redhawks a five-minute power play with no result. Soon after, Redhawks' Martin Schreiber was ejected for a knee tackle following video review.
"We get a five-minuter that I don't think we capitalize on, but after that we come back to our game and find our thread. But we lose that period 2–0," says coach Tomas Kollar.
Luleå capitalized on their power play, with Oskari Laaksonen scoring 3–2 with one minute left in the period. Kollar on the penalty:
"I think it might be a bit harshly called, it could be. But we got a 'five' ourselves too, so it evens out, I think."
In the third period, Sundberg tied it 3–3 with a slapshot. Luleå took control late: Mathias Bromé scored 4–3, and Brendan Shinnimin added 5–3 into an empty net with less than a minute remaining.
"Somewhere it's a pretty good hockey game, intense with lots of emotions. Good atmosphere. But of course we'd have liked to get a point in a game like this that we play today. It's a sour loss," says Kollar.
Despite the defeat, Kollar sums up the trip positively: three away wins against Rögle, Djurgården, and Timrå.
"We are a strong group. We have damn character and morale. We've found ways to win. We challenged Luleå today, so over six games we have some really good performances in the bag. We can more or less challenge any team on the road."
Home games await in Malmö against Djurgården on Saturday, Rögle on Thursday, and HV71 next Saturday. Sundberg looks forward to returning:
"Above all, it will be insanely nice to come home and sleep in your own bed. Then there will probably be a lot of crowd in the arena again."
