Linköping Mounts Incredible Third Period Comeback to Topple Brynäs

Linkoping helped kick off 2025 in the PWHL with an incredible comeback, as the SDHL got back into action. Here's a look at the games:

Brynäs carried a seemingly insurmountable 4-0 lead into the third period, paced by Jenniina Nylund’s goal and three assists. Linköping, however, refused to go down quietly. Taking advantage of a suddenly passive Brynäs, the visitors scored five unanswered goals in just over 12 minutes of the third period to seize victory from the jaws of defeat. Lova Blom lead the way for LHC with two goals and an assist, while teammate Lindsay Agnew was deadly from the point, notching her team’s third goal and assisting on Naomi Rogge’s eventual game-winner. The win allowed Linköping to leapfrog Brynäs and SDE for fifth place in the standings.

Both teams are back in action on Sunday. Linköping will ride their momentum into a tough match against league heavyweights MoDo, while Brynäs looks to bounce back against Djurgården.

After a scoreless first period, MoDo’s offense awakened in the second. Captain Ebba Berglund tallied her first of the season when she snapped home a nice Lauren Bellefontaine backhand pass to give her team a 1-0 lead. Djurgården countered with a series of quality scoring chances, but MoDo keeper Andrea Brändli denied everything that came her way. MoDo doubled their lead on an Ella Albinsson goal with minutes remaining in the middle frame. Djurgården fought back and tied the game in the third, on goals from Isabelle Leijonhielm and Brette Pettet. Pettet’s goal was the result of some very deceptive stickhandling — the captain pump faked twice and sold a pass before sniping a wicked wrister high over Brändli’s shoulder with nine minutes remaining in regulation time. Overtime solved nothing and the game went to a shootout. MoDo’s Ebba Hedqvist scored and Brändli robbed final DIF shooter Tereza Pistekova to secure the win. Brändli saved 25 of 27 shots while Djurgården counterpart Ida Boman had 29 saves in the loss.

MoDo meets Linköping on Sunday, while Djurgården faces Brynäs.

In a back-and-forth affair, SDE eventually came out victorious and took home their third straight win. Frölunda opened the scoring on the rush halfway through the first period, and it looked like they would carry the lead into the intermission, but SDE had other ideas. Kayleigh Hamers drove wide and low before snapping the puck top shelf to tie the game at 1-1 with eight seconds remaining in the frame. Early in the second, SDE took the lead. Offensive defender Emma Bergesen built speed through the neutral zone before driving down the left wing and sending a perfectly timed pass to a driving Michelle Löwenhielm in the slot. Löwenhielm scored past Frölunda’s Stephanie Neatby and SDE had a 2-1 lead. Barely a minute later, Frölunda responded when speedy Sofie Lundin stripped the puck from an SDE defender before passing to sniper Elsa Holopainen in the slot. Holopainen did what she is paid to do, and scored to tie the game at two apiece. Ten minutes later, SDE scored what would prove to be the game-winner when slick Lisa Johansson, who is seemingly a candidate for the Game MVP every night, carried the puck high through the offensive zone and faked a drop pass before snapping a shot towards the goal. The puck found its way to the stick of teammate Mimmi Gill before it caromed past Neatby to make the score 3-2 SDE. The teams traded a handful of chances in the final period, but the score stood. The loss was shorthanded Frölunda’s third straight, and they remain stagnant at third place in the standings.

SDE plays HV71 on Sunday. Frölunda will have a chance to turn their fortunes around when they meet league number 10 Leksand.

HV71 took an early lead, then rode the excellent goaltending of Lina Van Noort to victory over league weaklings Leksand, who lost their seventh straight. Hilde Svensson scored three and a half minutes into the first period to make it 1-0 HV. The teams traded chances over the next period and a half, but produced no more goals until HV’s Alva Johansson scored shorthanded in the third period to double her team’s lead to 2-0. The visitors subsequently added a power play marker and an empty netter to go home with the 4-0 win. HV’s Van Noort made 27 saves for the shutout. Leksand showed flashes of brilliance in the loss, but simply cannot buy a goal; the team has scored only three goals total during their seven game losing streak, and have been shutout five times over the same stretch. They will be in tough against Frölunda when the teams meet on Sunday; HV71 meets SDE.