The last time the SHL teams in ice hockey played in the Swedish Championship play-offs, Färjestad and HV71 met in a rock-hard quarter-final series over seven matches.

Then, in the spring of 2019, Färjestad was the series winner and HV71 was table leader.

Now, with about ten matches left of the basic series 2020–2021, the situation is different.

The Karlstad team is where the Jönköping colleague was two years ago, while HV is one of five teams in an infernal battle to avoid the last two positions in the table and a directly decisive match series about the SHL existence.

After three straight losses since the national team break and 3-4 in Löfbergs arena, the pressure on the gold team from 2017 increases.

-It is clear that it is a difficult situation.

I've seen it before, that we've been at the bottom, but not for long.

It is important to reset.

Every match is very important for us, says Filip Sandberg who against Färjestad made his 300th regular season match in the SHL and equalized to 3-3.

"Is one-eyed"

HV71 took the lead when Christoffer Törngren stole the puck from Färjestad's star defender Jesse Virtanen and on the second attempt outwitted the home goalkeeper Arvid Holm.

Then most things went wrong for the guests.

First, team captain Simon Önerud was led off the ice after a tackle from Färjestad's defender Jonathon Blum and 26 match seconds later Virtanen took revenge on himself and equalized to 1-1.

- I am one-eyed but as I see it, Simon is not really in balance and he (Blum) comes high up with his arms.

The judges say that it takes in the chest but Simon is a solid piece of 94 kilos.

If he gets it in his chest, he just shakes it off, says Stephan Lundh.

The HV coach was worried.

- It's ruggedly heavy.

He is not only our team captain, he is also a really skilled player.

We all need it now, he says.

Seven good minutes

HV71 was completely played out in the second period when Färjestad went from 3-1.

- We have well over ten seconds in the attack zone for the entire period.

It could have been more but Hugo (goalkeeper Alnefelt) is upside down, says Filip Sandberg.

In the third period, something happened to HV71.

Anton Wedin's reduction to 2-3 gave points hopes for points and after Sandberg's equalizer, the away team had a winning spirit.

- It is frustrating.

We play good hockey for seven minutes.

If we could increase it to 50 minutes, we would have extremely good chances of winning matches.

Now we were close but are not worth more, says Sandberg.

Instead, Olle Lycksell decided for Färjestad, with his fourth goal in the last five matches.

- Nice.

Most things go in now, says the match hero.

With the extra time victory, Färjestad has taken four straight two-pointers at home.