The last time Leksand visited Stockholm on Boxing Day, the away team was far superior and won 5–0 in front of a packed stadium in the Avicii Arena, 13,950 spectators, many of whom were also Leksand supporters.
Lukas Vejdemo scored two of Leksand's goals. On Saturday, the Stockholmer, who has a history with Djurgården at both senior and junior levels, was once again one of the scorers in the 5-2 victory in front of a new large crowd.
The 30-year-old center scored the 2-2 goal early in the second period, which meant that Leksand had recovered from a 0-2 deficit after Djurgården's two quick goals early in the first. Joe Snively and Anton Frondell had made it 1-0 and 2-0 respectively within 99 seconds, before Leksand's Tinus Luc Koblar reduced it to 1-2 after five minutes of play.
After Vejdemo's 2–2 equalizer, Oskar Lang gave Leksand a 3–2 lead midway through the second period - scoring the team's third straight goal of the game. In the third period, Djurgården could not recover from the collapse from 2–0 to 3–2, and the game ended 5–2 after Michael Lindqvist made it 4–2 on a power play and Anton Johansson scored into an empty net for 5–2.
Lifting after the Olympic break
"We work together and do it for each other. That's what I'm most impressed by," coach Johan Hedberg tells TV4 Play.
At the end of the match, Leksand's supporters sang in Globen while Djurgården's supporters were even quieter.
"We come out well in the first half but then we lose it," says Djurgården's defender Philip Holm to TV4 Play.
In-form Leksand thus continues to take important points in the pursuit of avoiding the relegation playoffs and the risk of dropping to HockeyAllsvenskan. The bottom-placed side has taken points in all five games after the Olympic break and has yet to lose in regulation.
Tight at the bottom
In parallel with the match in Stockholm, second-placed HV71 took an important 2–1 away win against Timrå. This means that the gap between Leksand (50 points) and HV71 (53 points) is still three points with five rounds left in the regular season.
Örebro, the first team safe from the relegation playoff zone, defeated top team Rögle 3–2 after extra time later on Saturday evening and went up to 55 points.
Djurgården is ninth with 64 points.
