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Sweden Defeats Finland 4-2, Lundqvist Starts, Plays Whole Game

September 11, 2016, 12:12 AM ET [0 Comments]
Levine: Team Sweden World Cup
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After dropping a 3-2 decision to Finland in each team's pre-tourney opener on Thursday, Sweden found their offensive game Saturday, tallying six goals to win 6-3. Tre Kroner's second line was the story throughout, while the first line also chipped in with a solid game.

In the first period, Loui Eriksson, who is skating on a line with the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, tallied a pair of power play goals. The rest of the way, it was Patric Honrqvist, Nicklas Backstrim and Filip Forsberg. Hornqvist had a pair of goals and two assists while Forsberg had a goal and two assists and Backstrom chipped in with a goal. The bottom-six didn't hit the score sheet, but the performance of the top-two lines more than made up for up.

Defensively, which is where Sweden should shine, they limited Finland to just 14 shots. Lundqvist, who sat out the opener recovering from the rib injury he suffered in practice last week, picked up the win, stopping 11 of 14 shots. He wasn't phenomenal, but after Finland close to 3-2 on Mikko Koivu's goal with two seconds left in the second, Lundqvist shut the door until late in the third. He has a week-plus and one more pre-tournament game to find his form, a point that he noted following the game.

In terms of minutes played, Carl Hagelin played just 9:44 while Mikael Backlund, in because Marcus Kruger was sidelined with an upper-body injury, saw only 9:42 of action. No forward played more than 19:03, which was the ice time for Eriksson, while Forsberg played 18:50 in the contest. Defensively, Mattias Ekholm played just 6:49, as the Swedes mainly rotated five defensemen, led by Erik Karlsson's 24:46 and Oliver Ekman-Larsson's 23:34 of ice time.

Graphical Representation of Sweden's Domination:




The key:
For opponents, as Pierre LeBrun wrote, "Stay Out of the Box." Tre Kroner's top power-play unit of Eriksson, Sedin, Sedin, Karlsson and Ekman-Larsson are sublime to watch. Great puck possession and movement and a sense where each one is and will be. Two power play goals in the first set the tone for the game.

Next up:
Sweden flies to Washington on Sunday to begin preparations for its final pre-tournament game against Team Europe at Verizon Center on Wednesday 7 p.m. ET. The tournament officially kicks off for Sweden, Saturday. September 18 at 3PM against Russia.

Team preview blog to be up early this week.
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