Skellefteå – Ørebro 13-02-2025

Hockey in Europe is slowly but surely heading towards the playoffs. This time we will once again visit Sweden, and their top league SHL. This is a league we have followed closely since the first drop back to September 2024. This time it is Skellefteå who will try to win against the bottom team Ørebro. Let's take a look if it will be as easy as we think.

Skelleftea

The team that finished in 3rd place last season has a tougher season this season. But they are still within the goal of becoming top 6 which gives them a direct place in the playoffs. They are now in 6th place after 41 games. But only a better goal difference separates them from 7th place. This game is therefore extremely important to keep their position.

The team wins just over half of their matches at home. With 11-10 in matches so far. They actually find themselves all the way down in 9th place in the home table. That is certainly not something that the fans, or the team itself, are happy with. They have even lost to today's opponent at home already. But they have won both away games, and in the home game they completely dominated the game, even though they lost in the end. 31-14 in the shooting statistics that night.

For a long time the team was hanging on to the top of the table. But after Christmas, the team had a bad period of 9 matches, where only 2 of them ended in victory. Fortunately, things have looked a little better in the last 4. Even though they deservedly lost away to Frølunda last time, they had won the 3 matches before that. They have also scored well with goals in these. That is always a good sign.

Coach Andreas Falk has also promised that the team will go for it. The team was too passive in the away game against Frølunda. Now they will instead build on the confidence from the last 3 home games before the break, which all ended in victory. We feel stronger at home than in a long time now, says Falk. The pressure in the group is good, and we will have the energy required to beat this team at home. We believe him when he says this.

Orebro

The weaker team of these two without a doubt. They finished 10th last year, and are now one place behind. That means they are now in a place that does not allow for a playoff spot (top 10), so they will be desperate for a win here. But can they do it? We can say right away that it does not look promising.

The team is really in a bad period. They have only 2 wins in the last 12 games. These games are also against relatively weak opponents. Hv71, who beat everyone, and Malmö who is also far down the table in 10th place. Internally as we know they have beaten today's opponent 1 time this season. But it was in a lucky win. The other two internal games are lost. Self-confidence is not good before they take the trip away here.

The pressure from the teams behind is also present. They have control of a safe place right now, but they have to be careful. They are only 4 points ahead of the second-last place, which takes them into a qualification to survive. We don't think that is particularly pleasant. Because there are always hungry teams from the division below who want to participate in the good company. Financially it would also be a disaster. But the results are what they are, and we simply believe that the quality is not good enough.

Conclusion

As usual, we summarize here. There is a difference in quality between these teams, there is no doubt about that. Only 6 points actually separate these teams in the record-equal table this season. But we do not believe that Skellefteå will invite themselves into the bottom battle. We believe they take this match seriously, and then the difference should be big.

Form should have something to say here. Because where things have looked better for Skellefteå lately, there are not many bright spots for Ørebro. We feel that these are two teams that are going in different directions from now on, and it is Skellefteå that is going the right way. Our recommendation is therefore the following game.

Sweden at 19:00: Skellefteå wins (1.85)