Erixon was excellent in the latest game but it was pity he was propably the only one in his team to do so. HV-71 took easy 4-1 and win series with same numbers. Skellefteå looked exhausted and their game was very passive and ineffective although they had few good momentums during two final periods but their offence dried in the corners (think Flames). Very few guys had energy left on either team. Tim Erixon was one who had something left in tank after spending most of last game in bench. He started this game too in bench and played very solid in few shifts he get and did everything right in d-zone + chipped in some offence too and his only mistake was not to help his team to score... until midway mark of second period he had a super shift and scored team's only goal. In that shift he was all over the ice, it's very difficult to defend against Erixon type of guy who has big body and skates so smoothly keeping feet moving all the time. He found open space in the slot and scored despite not having perfect touch to puck. Watch yourself,
highlights at 1:50.
After goal he earned more ice time including time on PP and got some good shots through from point but teammates were too tired to create traffic in front. On even strength he joined rushes more confidently and on o-zone he supported forwards well, better than I have seen him do in long time. Erixon had 13:20 of ice time, second highest shot total in team with 5, +1 and that goal of course. Excellent game by him and gotta hope he continues to play that kind of effective two-way game which he has potential to actualice. He just needs more self-confidence to do so. That self-confidence is key to improve most of his weakness or at least that's how it looks for me: he doesn't seem to have full believe in himself and that's what I suggest to be Erixon's biggest weakness at the moment. But what do I know, I just saw him play over 30 times this season
(necessary self-praise).