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Sweden Waxed by Team Europe 6-2, Lundqvist Chased, Pre-Tourney Over |
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Levine: Team Sweden World Cup
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Sweden dropped their final World Cup pre-tourney contest 6-2 to Team Europe on Wednesday. It was Europe's first win in the three exhibition games, as they, like Sweden, finished 1-2. Europe was led by Leon Draisaitl's hat trick, the third of which chased Henrik Lundqvist, who allowed five goals in 22 shots.
What did we learn in the first three games from Sweden:
1) Lundqvist has some rust to scrape off
Lundqvist did not play the first pre-tourney game, as he was recovering from the rib injury he suffered in practice. Hank got the win against Finland on Saturday, but he did allow three goals and wasn't tremendously sharp.While he had some nice moments - including stoning Jannik Hansen on a penalty shot - overall, Lundqvist struggled.
At least two of the goals - Tomas Tatar's power-play goal and Draisaitl's second of the game, Lundqvist looked to be too deep in his net. Lundqvist wasn't aided by his defense, as I will point out below. But if Sweden is going to advance out of the preliminary round, Lundqvist will have to be markedly better.
The whispers regarding his potential decline started last year in the series against Pittsburgh. His first two games in the World Cup, albeit exhibition ones, haven't aided in removing the questions. Lundqvist needs a strong tourney to remove all doubt as to his ability and also enter the NHL season on a better note than he finished the prior year.
2) The defense may not be as good as we first thought.
On paper, Karlsson-Hjarlmarsson, Ekholm-Ekman-Larsson and Hedman-Stralman and a seventh defenseman of Hampus Lindholm sounds very formidable. Today, that was not the case, as Europe forced mistakes, then took advantage of several of them to earn the win.
The penalty shot Lundqvist stopped occurred only because Hansen was tripped by Oliver Ekman-Larsson on a breakaway. Drasaitl's second goal came after he went around Mattias Ekholm and beat Lundqvist over his glove. Thomas Vanek made it 4-1 on a breakaway, thanks to Anton Stralman's giveaway, beating Lundqvist five-hole. Draisaitl was able to get free to score Europe's fifth goal.
Many of those markers were results of defensive mistakes and breakdowns. Seden elected to go with 12 forwards and six defenseman Wednesday. If they opt for that strategy again, look for Lindholm to be in for Ekholm.
3) The power play is dangerous.
Sweden's first goal came on the man-advantage. They finished the game 1-for-3 on the PP and completed the three exhibition games 4-for-12. If you take penalties against this team, you will get burned.
The Sedin twins and Loui Eriksson make up the front three on the man-advantage. Add in Karlson and Ekman-Larsson and you have a tough to contain five. Factor in the work they have done in practice on the power play along with the chemistry those players have, and it's easy to see why the man-advantage is such a weapon.
This bodes well for Vancouver. The early work done Sedin-Sedin-Eriksson should pay nice dividends for the Canucks when the season opens. Many of us think that the six-year, $36 million deal doled out by Vancouver to Eriksson was too much, but at least initially, he should be able live up to that contract, aided by the game action those three are receiving here.
Graphical Representations of Team Europe's Win:
What's Next:
Sweden is off until Sunday when they kick off their preliminary round with a matchup against Team Russia at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday at 3 p.m.
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