Djurgårdens IF – Mora IK 16-03-2025

The playoffs in Hockeyallsvenskan are finally underway. League champion Djurgården will host visitors Mora for the first match in a boiling Hovet Arena in Stockholm.

Djurgården, who started their journey this year by announcing that they were going to win the series and make the playoffs so that promotion to the SHL became a reality and not just a dream, are now on the upswing of their goals for the season.

Since Wikegård left his position as a hockey expert at TV4 after many years and took over as sports director at Djurgården, things have been looking up for this team.

Mora, who entered the playoffs via qualifiers, after finishing 7th in the series, was a surprise to many of today's opponents. In the playoffs, the winner of the series gets to choose their playoff opponent in the first round from the two teams that qualify among those who finished 7th-10th. That Djurgården would then choose the team that was best in the table of these was a surprise to many. But they probably feel that that team suits them best, and we expect that they have made a wise and well-considered decision.

Djurgårdens IF – Points record for the team.

Djurgården, who have had a clear goal of winning the series, have, after a weak start, where the team was all the way down to 6-7th place early in the season, have only gotten better and better. They ended up setting a new best record for the team's points capture throughout a season. There were also enough points for them to run away with the place they had stated they wanted before the season started, namely 1st place.

A lot has happened at the club since Wikegård came in as sports director. He has lifted the club in many areas. The club has been structured in a different way, and there is no doubt that he came up with a plan for most things. The club itself says that they now have a completely different structure for most things, from ticket sales, match execution, training, professionalism for most things is probably a key word here. Everything started back from the start and the bare field training in August. This has yielded results, and the club now looks more ready than in a long time to take the step up a division. We believe that can happen soon.

The club has had a few days off since the series ended, before they are now back training with a good surplus heading into the playoffs. The team is injury-free, and has one of the most complete stables in this division. As Wikegård says, you can't win this division without 2 good goalkeepers and 4 good forwards. They have had a nice mix of experienced and young players throughout the season, and as many as 8 juniors have been allowed to play in matches throughout the season. This is a clear strategy now for Djurgården, who need reinforcements from their own ranks due to finances. It finally seems that they have found the right mix this season.

The team averages about 7000 per home game, which shows how much interest and support the team has. It will definitely be a crazy pressure for all the teams that come here in the playoffs. There are many teams that will struggle with that. Good ticket sales are reported for both this game and the one coming on Tuesday. Djurgården starts with 2 home games in the entire playoffs in all phases over what is a total of best of 7 games each round.

They have a clear goal that this round will go to 4 games. They will definitely need all the energy for the later rounds. The team is ready to give 10-15 percent more every game now, with the mentality that every hockey player has when they get to the playoffs, and we believe the difference between the teams will increase.

Mora IK – Here but no further.

When Mora was chosen as the league champions' opponent, I don't think there were many people cheering at that club. They must simply be a size too small here.

The team achieved its goal of making the playoffs, but it probably stops here, according to most experts. We agree here. We don't see this team getting past Djurgården in this series. The team finished 7th in the standings, and had to go into a qualifier to get into the playoffs. There they met the team that finished 10th. There were two close games, and the team beat Vesterås with scores of 1-2 and 3-2. No more than it should be.

Otherwise, Mora finished with a victory over Tingsryd and Kalmar. A Kalmar that lost 3 of its last 4, and a Tingsryd that finished at the bottom of the table. Before this, the team was simply in terrible shape. where they lost 7 games in a row. We have not seen much improvement in this despite the team now winning its last 4.

In total in the series Mora 82 points in 52 games. That was 34 points less than their opponent. In terms of the number of goals, Mora scored 36 goals less, and conceded 22 goals more than their opponent. Which also tells a little about the balance of power. We don't think this will be any less when we head into the playoffs.

Conclusion – You don't choose a team that is better.

With Djurgårdens IF choosing their opponent in this match, we are pretty sure that this is the team that the players, coaches and management feel most confident in beating out of the two teams they could choose from.

The mother has to accept what they get, and certainly hoped that they weren't the ones chosen.

If we look at what has happened earlier this season between the teams, it is 3-1 in matches, Djurgården. Both home matches and one away match have been won by 2 goals, while they lost one of the away matches 3-2 after extra time, in a match they led 2-0, and should have won. Such a work accident does not happen at home in front of a packed audience.

We think the home team will come out of the starting blocks strong in this one. We recommend the following bets.

Hockey at 15:00: Djurgårdens IF – Mora IK: Djurgårdens IF wins -1.5 goals (1.91)