Sweden beats arch rival Finland 4-2 in Malmö

More than 11,000 fans came to Malmö Arena to watch the Swedish U20 team taking on the Finnish at the 2014 World Junior Championship. The Finnish team got a perfect start with an early goal but Sweden replied quickly and added another two goals in the second period. After a goal each in the last period Sweden won it 4-2.

"We played well offensively but not defensively", said Swedish forward Andreas Johnson to Eurohockey. He scored a goal for the second game in a row and led Sweden to today's win together with line-mates Sebastian Collberg and Alexander Wennberg.

Opening face-off.

The game saw many penalties - eight for Sweden and ten for Finland - but neither team was efficient during powerplay. Finland didn't get one single powerplay goal while Sweden got one while playing with two men more on the ice.

Finland shocked Sweden with high pressure towards the Swedish net right from the start and it took only 41 seconds before Esa Lindell could beat Swedish goalie Oscar Dansk.

Sweden got the first power-play of the game when the goal scorer Lindell checked Sebastian Collberg at 2:54. And then when there were too many Finnish players on the ice the Swedes got a 2-man advantage which they used with an amazing tic-tac-toe play. Alexander Wennberg got the goal assisted by Lucas Wallmark and Andreas Johnson.

After the goal most of the play was in the Finnish end but at 10:30 Otto Rauhala had a great chance to restore the Finnish lead but all alone with Dansk he missed the target.

With a couple of minutes remaining of the first period Finland got a 40-second 2-man advantage after a couple of unnecessary Swedish penalties. Finland called a time-out to rest their first power-play line, but it didn't help. No goal.

Sweden opened the second period with a lot of play in the attacking zone. Elias Lindholm had the best chance to score.

"I didn't play my best game today", says Lindholm. "But I haven't played a game in a while".

Finland also had a great chance at five minutes when Saku Mäenalanen deflected a shot by Esa Lindell.

When Rasmus Ristolainen cleared the puck out of the rink during a Swedish powerplay Sweden got a 39 seconds 5-on-3 powerplay but this time it wasn't at all as effective as in the first period. Before the second penalty was over Finland got another one after a brawl in front of the net and Sweden got another 2-man advantage for 19 seconds. Also this time without scoring.

Sweden got the important third goal at 14 minutes when sniper Andreas Johnson picked up the puck in front of the net as Finnish goalie Ville Husso was out of position after stopping Sebastian Collberg's attempt to score.

Finland was very close to a quick equalizer when Rasmus Ristolainen hit both posts with a shot from the left wing. With a bit of luck a Swedish defender could clear the puck from the goal-line.

When we got some 4-on-4 hockey Filip Forsberg lost the puck during a break-away but Jacob de la Rose picked up the puck behind him and scored 3-1 for Sweden.

"We won, but we didn't play at 100% today", says de la Rose after the game. "We let them score too easy goals".

The third period opened with a man in each penalty booth and this time Finland used the open ice better. Rasmus Ristolainen scored 3-2 on his own rebound at 45 seconds of play.

A few minutes later Saku Kinnunen got a breakaway but couldn't beat Dansk. Finland continued with very high fore-checking putting pressure on the Swedes, but it didn't pay off. Instead Sweden got its fourth goal when Alexander Wennberg took a shot from the blue-line that Husso couldn't see.

Finland chased another goal but never got really close and the game ended 4-2 for Sweden.

Tomorrow Finland gets a day off while Sweden will play Norway.

Video highlights from IIHF.com

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