TIMRÅ. Linköping lost all six of his pre-season training matches.
The start of the SHL season lasted with three losses in a row.
– Of course it is important to win the game now, we have to do everything we can, says first place Marcus Leung.
Linköping missed the playoffs four seasons in a row with the table standings 12, 11, 12, 11.
This season, there have been resources to invest in new acquisitions such as Linus Hultström, Oscar Fantenberg and Ty Rattie.
However, the start was a nightmare with 2-3 after extra time away against Örebro, 2-6 at home against Skellefteå and 1–3 against Timrå.
– At the moment we are not winning matches, winning matches is the fun of hockey. Now we don’t. It’s about scoring goals and winning matches, we don’t score enough goals. He says we have to dig and see ourselves in the mirror what we can do better Marcus Leung.
“confused and discussed”
At home against Skellefteå on Tuesday night, disappointment and frustration were palpable in the booth.
After the match, coach Claes Ostmann described the atmosphere in the dressing room during the breaks.
– It’s been raging and the guys have discussed it, they’re excited to make it even better. It’s not a funeral mood in the dressing room, but it obviously takes time to recover the energy after the period end slaps. Nobody stops playing, nobody tries to fight and toil, says Claes Ostmann.
“far away …”
Far towards Timra on Thursday evening, there was better energy on the ice.
We are very disappointed that we didn’t get points or win the game. Anyway, it was better than last time, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far Far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, very, very far, says Marcus Leung.
The 31-year-old had a total of three times in the goal frame in the match against Timrå.
– It’s absolutely unbelievable, I don’t know what to say. I think that is the case now. Post now, hopefully it will be posted in the next game. I’ve never participated in three framework meetings on my part before, and I’ve never been involved in anything like this, says Marcus Leung.
‘Need all help’
Between matches this week, Linkoping has had one-on-one conversations about the situation and what the team should represent.
We try to lift each other up, we are a team with people and emotions. We are doing our best to reverse this trend and start winning matches. Self-confidence may not be at its peak, but it’s something we have to work on every day, says Marcus Leung.
Already in the opening match at home against Skellefteå, the fans were disappointed when there were 5,142 spectators in the 8,190-capacity arena.
As per the forecast, it doesn’t look like there will be much crowd when Färjestad comes to visit him on Saturday afternoon.
We want to give the fans a win. I hope many more people will come and support us, we need all the help we can get. We’re going to give them three points, which is what we want to do. Marcus Leung says there are frequent and important matches now.
The match against the Swedish champion will be the fourth in eight days.