Rögle won the match 2–1 and reduced the final series to 1–2. Team captain Anton Bengtsson scored the winning goal in the seventh minute of overtime in front of a packed ice rink at home in Ängelholm.
"The pressure in this arena... you just have to soak it in and enjoy it," says Bengtsson, who suffered an injury during the third period and seemed to be in pain, but still came out to play in overtime.
"It will take more if I don't play in a final. It doesn't feel like anything right now and it's nice to be able to come back and play and be able to decide. We played a much better match today, the first 45 minutes were very good. Then we became a bit passive after the lead. It was strong that we could find a way to win."
After 1–4 and 1–5 in the first SM final matches in Skellefteå, it was a completely different Rögle at home in Ängelholm.
The home team dominated the game and had the most shots on goal in the first two periods. It also helped that Skellefteå drew five penalties. But Rögle, normally a very good power play team, needed a 5–3 lead to break the deadlock.
Means a lot
Fredrik Olofsson made it 1–0 15:58 into the second period.
And the finishing gesture, a thumb in his mouth, said it all. His wife Annika has just given birth to the couple's first child.
"It's been absolutely incredible, it's emotional in so many different ways. It's a double joy," Olofsson says with tears in his eyes to TV4 Play.
"We have a joke that people who have children usually score goals right after, and when we've said that, it's been pretty neat. It's awesome."
In the third period, Skellefteå took over and, in the middle of the period, the equalizer came through Victor Stjernborg, his fourth goal in the final series.
"It's nice that it has come loose," Stjernborg says to TV4 Play after taking the match to extra time.
It was, of course, important for Rögle to win the third match and not give Skellefteå match point, even though the Ängelholm team had already managed to turn around a 0–3 deficit in this playoff against Färjestad in the quarterfinals.
"This means a lot, we are playing with momentum," says Bengtsson.
Match four will be played in Ängelholm on Thursday.
