The Vienna Capitals took a big step towards qualifying and finishing first in Group N with a 5-2 win in Skelleftea. Read more in Gamecentre. 

The Vienna Capitals have done the improbable by taking five of six points from Skelleftea AIK, following a 5-2 win in northern Sweden. As was the case with their overtime win at home, the big reason was the goaltending of Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, who faced an almost constant barrage from the Swedish powerhouse but stopped 55 of 57 shots. On offence, Vienna capitalized on most of their chances.

Their first chance came right away, when Andreas Nodl got a breakaway and buried it just 54 seconds in, and eight minutes later they doubled their lead on a Rafael Rotter deflection. They continued to roll in the second period when Kelsey Tessier scored on a shorthanded breakaway, and then it became 4-0 in the 32nd minute when Riley Holzapfel was in the right place at the right time, a juicy rebound came to him and he buried it.

Skelleftea must have been in disbelief of their situation, but instead of folding their tent, they came out more determined than ever in the third period, out-shooting Vienna 22-4 over the last 20 minutes. Their persistence produced two power-play goals – Jesper Olafsson with a big blast from the point on the power play with just under 14:00 to play, then Jimmie Ericsson on a deflection with 6:43 to go.

They pulled their goalie with three minutes to go, trying to creep closer, but instead Tessier scored his second of the night into the empty net to put it away.

"I'm pretty pleased with the team effort,” assessed Vienna coach Serge Aubin. “We understood we were up against a very good team, but we just palyed solid defensively and capitalized on our chances, especially in the second period, so I'm very happy. These games are great challenges for us, especially a team like Skelleftea that has so much talent and throws so many different looks, so as a coach it's a real challenge. As far as the future holds, we have two big games coming up against KalPa, so we'll take them one at a time and see what happens."

Trailing Skelleftea – who are out of games – by two points, the Caps only need two of six available points against KalPa to not only advance, but take top spot in Group N.