SHL
Färjestad BK are Swedish champions 2021/2022...
Game #7 of the SHL Finals between the home team Luleå HF and Färjestad BK Karlstad was a pure defensive struggle since the beginning, with players and coaches feeling all the pressure and fear typical of this kind of matches.
For good 50 minutes, the only aim of both teams was to avoid any scoring chance by the opponents, without really trying to build some well structured offensive flow by themselves.
They just relied on individual efforts, hoping for a mistake by the opposing defense or goalie.
But about halfway through the 3rd period, a sudden and unexpected knuckleball by Jesse Virtanen got past Luleå's goalie Lassinantti and that was enough, because the home team reaction didn't sort anything out more than a few shots saved by Dominik Furch and and one hitting the post once they could beat Färjestad's amazing Czech goalie.
The game was definitively over with 2 mins still to be played, when Linus Johansson scored the second goal of the guests.
The 3rd and final empty netter was just cosmetic.
Färjestad wins game #7 on the road by a score of 3-0 (0-0, 0-0, 3-0) and the whole series by a score of 4 games to 3.
It's the 10th overall title for Färjestad, the first since 2011.
And it's the first time that a team finishing the regular season outside the top 4 spots ends up winning the playoffs (Färjestad was only 6th after this year's RS).
LEAGUE SUMMARY
Regular Season Final Standings
https://stats.swehockey.se/ScheduleAndResults/Standings/12318
Playoffs Rounds Recap
https://stats.swehockey.se/ScheduleAndResults/Overview/12319
Final Series
Game #1: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 4-1 (1-1; 0-0; 3-0)
Game Highlights
https://www.shl.se/play/video/168061?provider=staylive&autoplay=1
Game #2: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 4-0 (2-0; 1-0; 1-0)
Game Highlights
https://www.shl.se/play/video/168294?provider=staylive&autoplay=1
Game #3: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 5-4 OT (3-1; 0-1; 1-2; 1-0)
Game Highlights
https://www.shl.se/play/video/168352?provider=staylive&autoplay=1
Game #4: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 3-2 OT (2-0; 0-1; 0-1; 1-0)
Game Highlights
https://www.shl.se/play/video/168440?provider=staylive&autoplay=1
Game #5: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 4-0 (0-0; 1-0; 3-0)
Game Highlights
https://www.shl.se/play/video/168690?provider=staylive&autoplay=1
Game #6: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 3-1 (2-0; 0-0; 1-1)
Game Highlights
https://www.shl.se/play/video/168959?provider=staylive&autoplay=1
Game #7: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 0-3 (0-0; 0-0; 0-3)
Game Highlights
https://www.shl.se/play/video/169361?provider=staylive&autoplay=1