Djurgården, league champions in Hockeyallsvenskan, decided the match already in the first period when they took a 2-0 lead that AIK never managed to catch up with.
It feels good, it's first to four and the first match is important, says Djurgården's Ludvig Rensfeldt to TV4.
"Hell of a pressure"
Only the home team's supporters are allowed to attend the matches at Hovet, for security reasons. The sound image in the fully packed arena (8,098 spectators) was therefore dominated by singing Djurgården fans. Who then became completely silent when AIK scored a goal.
There's a hell of a pressure here, but I don't want to say that it affects, said AIK's Christoffer Björk after the first period to TV4 Play.
On the ice, it was the game that spoke. Djurgården dominated the first period, perhaps mainly because they got to play with a numerical advantage for six minutes. And the lead at the break was 2-0 through goals by Tyler Kelleher and Marcus Krüger.
AIK reduced in the beginning of the second period, Gerry Fitzgerald, but one and a half minutes later the home team could extend to 3-1, Victor Eklund, after a mistake in AIK's defense. AIK reduced again halfway through the match through Daniel Ljungman who tricked his way behind Hugo Hävelid's cage and finally put the puck in the goal.
Ludvig Rensfeldt made it 4-2 in an empty net with 17.6 seconds left of the match.
Threat against referees
We're leading by a goal and know that with one mistake it's equal. It was fun to put the nail in the coffin, says Rensfeldt.
The talk before the Allsvenskan final was marked by a threat against the referees – which has resulted in several of the best judges being removed from the final series.
The next match in the final series, best of seven matches, is played on Friday.
