At the beginning of May, Luleå celebrated the club's second Swedish Championship gold medal on the men's side, the first in 29 years. But at the beginning of this season, Luleå has not shown any championship moves - and on Saturday afternoon the situation became even worse for the team from Norrbotten.
Luleå were stripped of their title by Brynäs in a rematch of this spring's Swedish Championship final. The Gävle team won 3–0 after scoring all of their goals within just over eleven minutes of the middle period.
There are many things that need to be improved. Now we are careless in certain moments, which means they get their chances and can be effective, said Luleå coach Thomas "Bulan" Berglund to TV4 Hockey after the second period.
It was careless, not least when Brynäs scored 2-0, where Johannes Kinnvall stole the puck from an inattentive Casper Juustovaara.
I sneak up behind a little and just see that he has no idea that I'm behind him. I just try to get it out quickly and it's there. It was nice, Kinnvall tells TV4 Hockey.
The three-pointer was welcome for Brynäs, who have also started the season slowly. With the victory, they move past Luleå in the table.
Former champions HV71 took their second straight victory in front of their home crowd in Jönköping. A 5–0 win in the bottom match against Leksand means HV climbs to 22 points, the same number as Luleå after 20 games played.
5–0 was also the winning number for Malmö, who despite away ice, overcame Örebro and had scored three goals after just over 15 minutes.
In the fourth match played early on Saturday, one team also managed to keep a clean sheet. Skellefteå beat Djurgården at home, 4–0, and the series' top scorer Oscar Lindberg accounted for two of the goals and one assist. Lindberg is already up to 31 points (16+15).
Corrected: In a previous version, Lindberg's assist was missing.
