Luleå made the process short with an injured Linköping, who came up to Norrbotten with a total of seven players on the absence list. Trion Pernilla Winberg, Malou Berggren and Vilma Tanskanen are all gone indefinitely with concussions, while Annie Sjöstrand, Savannah Newton, Zoe Hickel and Linnea Johansson were also missing.
Already 9.49 in the first period, it was 3-0 to the home team after goals from Emma Nordin, Petra Nieminen and Josefin Persson.
Then it just ran on. After 60 minutes, 9-0 shone on the board in the final replay from last year. A devastating victory with 41-14 in the shot on goal.
- Very heavy right now. This is not how we wanted to start the new year. We talked all the time about focusing on our game. We never came close enough to make Luleå feel threatened. We have had a tough season and had many gone. We hope they are on their way back. We hope that we will be strong in the end, says Linköping's Moa Wernblom to SVT Sport.
LHC now travels to Örnsköldsvik where tomorrow they meet Modo in a real six-point match. With two matches played more than the Övik team, Linköping holds the last playoff spot, six points ahead of just Modo who is under the line.