For the Rangers in the Olympics, it was a light day, as only Sweden and the two Olympians on that squad - Henrik Lundqvist and Carl Hagelin - took the ice Wednesday. Tomorrow will see Team USA with Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh, as I think Derek Stepan will be a healthy scratch, Team Canada with Rick Nash and Team Norway with Mats Zuccarello take to the Sochi ice for the the first time. The US, a bit surprisingly backstopped by Jonathan Quick, faces Slovakia at 7:30 am eastern time while Canada, with Carey Price between the pipes, and Norway play each other at 12 noon. Ryan Miller could get the start against Russia, though that is not set in stone, and Roberto Luongo versus Austria.
Sweden got off to a hot start, jumping to a 4-0 lead 25 minutes in before a pair of ex-Rangers, Marek Zidlicky and Jaromir Jagr cut the deficit in half midway through the second period. That was as close as the Czechs got with Tre Kroner maintaining that lead the rest of the way. The win ties Sweden for the lead in Group C with Switzerland, who scored with 7.9 seconds to beat Latvia 1-0.
As Bill Melzer wrote in his Sweden recap blog, Henrik Lundqvist turned back 27 of 29 shots to earn the win for the Swedes. Tre Kronor was outshot by a 22-16 margin over the final 40 minutes of the game -- including 15-5 in a third period that saw the Swedes kill three separate minor penalties -- but Lundqvist came up big when he was needed. He wasn't challenged throughout and looked shaky at times early on, but got better as the game wore on.
Carl Hagelin played on the fourth line with Jimmie Ericsson and Marcus Kruger, but saw the most ice time of that trio. Hagelin played 12:25 in the win, eighth most amongst all the forwards. He had two shots on net and finished even in the win.
Sweden gets back into action Friday against Switzerland in a contest that will begin at 7:30 a.m. eastern U.S. and Canada time. The game will be televised in the United States on NBC Sports Network.