Rögle — Linköping HC: 2:1, SHL

Rögle beat Linköping 2:1 in their SHL meeting on Saturday. The result keeps both sides level on points after just a couple of games in the Swedish league. And here's the thing — we had called a home win at 59 per cent confidence before kick-off, and it came through.

Both teams sit in the lower half of the table with zero points, which tells you nothing about the standings yet. The season is barely under way, and three games is hardly enough to draw conclusions. To be fair, the result doesn't shift the board in any meaningful way.

Rögle's recent form shows a team finding its rhythm. They beat Djurgården 3:1 and then dropped points to Luleå 2:4 before this win. Linköping have been mixed — a heavy 9:2 loss to Brynäs followed by a 3:2 win over Timrå. By then, you could see the difference in confidence between the two sides.

Without detailed period-by-period data, the match seems to have been decided in those crucial moments. Hockey, more than any other sport, turns on three or four shifts. The rest is just noise. Rögle found a way back into it when they needed to.

The gap between the teams remains negligible. Both are level on points, both have room to grow. Nothing definitive yet, but Rögle at least have taken the first step in the right direction.