IFK Helsinki played exactly the kind of game they needed to be successful against Frolunda Gothenburg, playing solid team defence en route to a 2–1 home-ice victory. Now the key will be a repeat performance in Gothenberg.

IFK Helsinki 2–1 Frolunda Gothenburg

WATCH highlights here | FOLLOW the series here

by Derek O'Brien, quotes from Sami Iilomo

HELSINKI – Up against the offensive juggernaut of Frolunda Gothenburg, IFK Helsinki needed strong defence to take the first leg of this quarter-final and they got it. They allowed the CHL's highest scoring team only 24 shots and Ville Husso stopped 23 of them. They got all the offence they needed from Tomas Zaborsky, who scored two goals, as IFK Helsinki won 2–1 on home ice to take a one-goal aggregate lead into the second leg.

"It was an important win," said Zaborsky. "We knew they're a hard-working and fast team. We just needed to keep pressuring to get some goals." 

The Slovakian sniper got things going in the first minute of the game when he elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Linus Fernstrom high to the glove side. Then Frolunda's big guns evened the score in an evenly played first period when Andreas Johnsson fed Mathis Olimb, who snapped it past the glove of Husso. Olimb and Johnsson continue to lead all CHL scorers, now with 22 points each. Frolunda stepped it up in the second period and out-shot IFK 13–7, but Zaborsky scored the only goal on the power play with a deadly wrister from the left wing. 

"A couple more goals would have been great," Zaborsky added, thinking his team could have added to their lead. "We had chances to score them but unfortunately we couldn't get anymore goals. But we're in a great position for next week and we’ll see what happens then."

Zaborsky then took a skate in the face off a faceoff in the third period and went down in a scary scene. Losing him would have been big, but he returned to finish the game. Frolunda got few chances in a defensively played final frame, but Mattias Janmark almost tied the game for a second time with about a minute to go, forcing Husso to come up big one last time. 

"We got off to a bad start and that set the tone for the first half of the game," said Frolunda coach Roger Ronnberg. "It got a little better over time but I'm annoyed with our play in the first half. At the same time, I think we did ourselves in by taking too many penalties, which didn't allow ourselves a real chance to change things around."

The teams will now reconvene in western Sweden in a week's time, with IFK Helsinki carrying a slim one-goal lead against a team that can score in bunches. If they want to prevent that from happening, they'll need a repeat of this performance.

"We did a good job," said IFK coach Antti Tormanen. "Frolunda's a fast-moving team and they can move the puck in small spaces. But we're going into the next game thinking about a tie, we're going there to win."