Skelleftea Return to SHL Finals After Eliminating Holders Lulea

Okuliar goal sends Skelleftea past Lulea into Le Mat trophy final

Skelleftea beat Lulea 2-1 to clinch the SHL semi-final series 4-1 and reach the Le Mat Trophy final. Okuliar scored the winner. Final starts April 23.

Defensive Masterclass sees Skelleftea oust Lulea in game five. Skelleftea beat Lulea 2-1 to WIN SHL semi-final series 4-1...

Skelleftea will play for the Le Mat Trophy in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) finals after clinching a 4-1 semi-final series win over defending champions Lulea with a 2-1 home victory.

Lulea avoided a sweep with a 3-2 home win in game four, adding some respectability as their title reign neared its end.

To advance, they needed to become just the second team in league history to overturn a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series after Rogle did it 10 days ago. That looked even more unlikely when Skelleftea went ahead in the ninth minute.

Haara was back in the box for holding, with Lulea's Erik Gustafsson and Pontus Andreasson also taking penalties either side of it. Skelleftea capitalized on Andreasson’s penalty right at the 20-minute mark early in the second period.

Arvid Lundberg drove hard into the attacking zone before feeding Okuliar, who settled himself and ripped the puck past Matteus Ward into the top corner to make it 2-0.

Arvid Lundberg drove hard into the attacking zone before passing to Okuliar, who took a moment to set himself before blasting the puck past Matteus Ward into the top corner for 2-0.

Vilket avslut av Oliver Okuliar när han utökar Skellefteås ledning till 2–0! 🎯 pic.twitter.com/SKJY48dZ25

— SHL.se (@SHLse) April 15, 2026

Two quick penalties soon after gave the hosts a brief 5-on-3, but they couldn’t extend the lead. That proved costly after the midway point when they were called for too many men on the ice.

Winning the offensive-zone face-off to start the power play, Lulea strung together quick passes before Isac Hedqvist laid it back for Brian O’Neill to fire home and cut the deficit in half.

A roughing call on Brendan Shinnimin late in the second meant the visitors started the period shorthanded again. They killed it off this time, but their momentum stalled, especially after Frederic Allard was whistled for slashing five minutes in.

Skellefteå är klart för SM-final! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Ore8YDYESk

— SHL.se (@SHLse) April 15, 2026

Skelleftea took two quick penalties of their own, but Lulea couldn’t take advantage. The black and yellows delivered a defensive masterclass, registering just one shot on goal in the final 20 minutes while holding a desperate Lulea side to only six..

That backs-to-the-wall effort got it done for the top seeds. They lived up to their billing with a 2-1 win and are back in the SHL finals after a one-year absence. They will face either Rogle or Vaxjo in the final series, which starts on 23rd April.