Luleå Hockey secured their eighth straight win of the season in the Champions Hockey League last night. The Swedes knocked DEL side Grizzlys Wolfsburg out of the competition with a 2-1 Round of 16 Return Game win on home ice.
Luleå entered the game with a 3-2 lead from last week's First Game so it was expected that they would be cautious on the puck. The first period came and went with no goals, despite chances on both ends of the ice.
Wolfsburg, one-goal on aggregate down, were eager to tie the series and their play was much more open. Midway through the second period, disaster struck, when Wolfsburg's Tyler Morley opened the scoring of the game when he knocked the puck in on 4-on-4 play to level the series.
It took some time, but eventually up stepped Konstantin Komarek who fired an absolute rocket on the powerplay to put his side back in the lead.
Komarek didn't say much after the game, but he did say that he didn't think it was the best of performances from his team -" I don't think it was a very good game for us" he started, "but we got the job done and that's what counts in the end."
Despite his criticism, Luleå did finish the night with nearly double the number of shots on target compared to Wolfsburg, 3.98 Expected Goals (compared to Wolfsburg's 1.98) and a 63% Expected win.
"We move on to the Quarter-Finals though," he added.
Oscar Engsund's empty-netter would seal the deal, as the Swedes move on to the Quarter-Finals for the third time in their CHL history.