Switzerland shakes Sweden

Sweden started well and dominated the game but Switzerland played a well organised defense and had quick and dangerous counter attacks and on of those counter attacks Eliot Antonietti gave the Swiss the lead.

In the second period you could expect a Swedish storm against the Swiss net, but instead it felt like the Swedes had lost some confidence in their offensive game and Switzerland had gained confidence and continued to played strong defensively. Sweden also showed weakness in their own zone and allowed Switzerland to create many chances.

But Sweden would tie the game when Sebastian Collberg beat Melvin Nyffeler with a hard and high shot on a power play. However it took less than two minutes for Mike Kunzle to give Switzerland the lead again on their first power play chance.

It seemed like the Swiss had a good chance at the victory but Sweden got a lucky equalizer when Emil Djuse's shot went in off a defender. Even if Sweden didn't play very well offensively they got rewarded for taking many shots at goal.

Both teams had chances to score the winner but no more goals were scored and the overtime was scoreless. In the shootout Sweden was the better team, Nyffeler made two good saves but Rask scored on the third attempt. At the other end, Niklas Lundström replace Joel Lassinantti in the shootout and made three easy saves on bad attempts by the Swiss.

"I like penalty shots, it's fun", Lundström said about that he was given the chance despite not playing the game. Sweden's head coach was pleased with the result "I'm very pleased, it was a very difficult game for the guys".

Sweden can and will need to play much better, but perhaps today's game was a good sign, last year Sweden won gold after also beating Switzerland after a shootout in the first round. The Swiss can be pleased with a good effort and should have good chances to win over Czech Republic or Finland if they play like this.

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