Malmö Redhawks levelled the quarter-final series at 1–1 with a 2–1 win over Djurgården in Malmö Arena. William von Barnekow scored the winner in the third period after an early goal by Filip Björkman and a disallowed goal for Fredrik Händemark. A decisive third match is set for Saturday.
Malmö Redhawks faced a must-win situation in the second quarter-final match against Djurgården in the SHL playoffs. After Djurgården's win in the first game via a controversial overtime goal later admitted as wrongly allowed by SHL, the home team got revenge in Malmö Arena. 23-year-old William von Barnekow sank Djurgården with the 2–1 goal early in the third period, levelling the series at 1–1. A third and decisive match awaits on Saturday in Malmö. The game started strongly as Filip Björkman scored 1–0 at 2:28 after Djurgården lost possession. 'Jättekul såklart. Gott att göra första och få en bra start på matchen,' he told TV4. Soon after, Malmö thought it was 2–0 when Fredrik Händemark poked in the puck, but it was disallowed as he backed into Djurgården's goaltender Magnus Hellberg—a situation similar to game one. SVT expert Håkan Loob called it 'helt galet' that similar incidents occurred again but deemed the call correct. 'Det är rätt att det döms bort, men det är helt osannolikt att det blir så här,' he said. Händemark himself: 'Domarna tar beslut och det är de som dömer så det är inte mycket att göra åt.' Djurgården's Jacob Josefson equalised at 1–1 before von Barnekow's sharp wrist shot decided it. 'Det är magiskt. Alltid kul att avgöra matcher, men speciellt i en sådan här match,' von Barnekow told Sydsvenskan. He called it the biggest goal of his career so far and praised the fourth line's performance. Coach Tomas Kollar agreed on the disallowed goal: 'Det är korrekt dömt.'
