January 25th 2018
Stjernen – Storhamar 1-4 (0-0, 1-2, 0-2)
The Yellows played a solid game on the road and could record another deserved win. The first period ended scoreless, but Storhamar should have capitalized. Tommy Johansen in net had closed shop during the first act and kept his clean sheet. The deadlock was broken in the middle stanza when a beauty no-look-behind the-back backhand pass from Simen Løvhaug Hansen set up Christian Larrivée for an empty net from the low crease. The Gaspé native couldn’t miss from there. Robin Dahlstrøm doubled the lead a few minutes later when he was fed by a blunder from the home team’s D, and Dahlstrøm found Johansen’s five-hole.
Stjernen managed to cut the lead in half a minute later when a shot from the high circle beat Robert Hestmann who seemed to have lost the sight of the puck. Storhamar’s netminder looked for the rubber on the far post and by that left the other part open for the shot. The puck went straight into the gaping net while Hestmann looked a bit dejected.
Storhamar had good control in D in the third frame and also managed to create some chances offensively. So it was only fair when Larrivée scored his second of the evening after a huge shift in the offensive zone. His line put pressure on for almost a minute, and finally they managed to beat Johansen to kill the game off.
Steffen Thoresen scored Storhamar’s fourth with an emptynetter in the final minute and could cheer for his goal, his team’s win, Storhamar’s secured minimum runner up position in the regular season and finally his newly introduced spot in Norway’s Olympic squad.