The home premiere against Skellefteå had barely started when the Jönköping team was hit by two new injuries.
Defender Willhelm Hallquisth got a puck in the face and was forced to leave. Shortly after, forward Herman Hansson also disappeared after a tackle by the visitors' Frans Haara.
Both are in the hospital. "Wille" lost some teeth, it looked pretty bad, and Herman probably broke something on his body, said new HV coach Anton Blomqvist in TV4 Play.
In the premiere against Växjö, a 3-4 loss, both defender Oliwer Kaski and center Oscar Fisker Mølgaard were injured. They will be out for approximately four and eight weeks, respectively.
Artistic goal by the talent
Skellefteå, also injury-stricken, lost the premiere away against Malmö.
Now came the revenge and the first win. It was founded in the second period when Max Lindholm shot 1-0 and back talent Axel Sandin-Pellikka made an artistic goal to 2-0.
He fooled home forward Radan Lenc at the blue line, advanced forward and hit the crossbar behind goalkeeper Hugo Alnefelt.
I thought before the match that I would do something nice, I felt like I got the opportunity there, so it was just a matter of taking the ice and dunking it in, he said.
First SHL point
Veteran Marcus Eriksson, 39 years old, scored his first SHL point in his career when he was credited with an assist on the goal.
Eriksson is debuting in SHL and was recruited from Södertälje, where he was last season's hockey Allsvenskan scoring king.
Skellefteå dominated greatly, won the shots with 28-14, but HV71 got new hope when André Petersson reduced with just over five minutes left.
Instead, Martins Dzierkals could make it 3-1 in an empty net in the final seconds.
