Sweden Crushes Italy for Eight Goals

A five-goal third period saw Sweden defeat Italy by a score of 8-1 on Friday.

It didn't take long for the heavily-favoured Swedes to make it 1-0. At 3:24, Elias LIndholm got the puck to Carolina Hurricanes teammate Victor Rask, who sent a fast wrist shot over former ECHL MVP Frederic Cloutier's glove and in to give the Tre Kronor the early lead. 

At 8:34, the Swedes got a goal thanks to a pair of Toronto Maple Leafs. William Nylander's shot purposely hit the end boards, bouncing back in front to Philip Holm. Holm, who is expected to sign with the Leafs in coming days, was there to knock in the puck at the doorstep to make it 2-0, further extending Sweden's lead.

In a twist nobody was expecting, Italy was able to cut the lead in half in the second period. At 3:50 on the power play, Giovanni Morini took a feed from Giulio Scandella in close and just knocked it over the goal line, putting Italy on the board. 

But six minutes later, the Swedes scored once again to regain the two-goal lead. This time, Holm fed Jonas Brodin at the point, whose hard slap shot proved too much for Cloutier's glove as the puck blew past him and in for the 3-1 goal.

A crazy bounce would help Sweden take the 4-1 lead. Just 41 seconds into the third period, Elias Lindholm got his own rebound after the puck was stopped in close. The Hurricanes forward would go on to knock the bouncing puck out of the air and past Cloutier to make it 4-1 for Sweden.

The goals kept coming in the third as Italy finally started to fall apart. At 10:09, Linus Omark took a pass from Carl Soderberg and got it between Cloutier's legs, making it 5-1. The goal was controversial, however, as Soderberg had hit Daniel Frank in the head, a hit that would take Frank out of the game. The call was not made, and the goal stood.

Then, four minutes later, Sweden made it 6-1. This time, Carl Klingberg took a pass from Joakim Nordström and one-timed the short pass behind Cloutier, making it 6-1 with six minutes to go. Two minutes after that, Joel Eriksson-Ek followed through on a bouncing puck in front of the net and poked it over the goal line. John Klingberg would score one more to make it 8-1, finishing off the big victory for the team in yellow.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Tweets by @eurohockey