Sweden Keeps Preliminary Round Record Alive With Win Over Russia

Sweden has won their 44th straight game in round-robin play at the World Juniors with a 4-3 victory over Russia on Sunday to end the preliminary round.

The Swedes have a great ability to score at will, and Lias Andersson is one of the big reasons why. The New York Rangers prospect needed just seven minutes to score his fifth of the tournament after Timothy Liljegren sent the puck on net, with Andersson grabbing the rebound to squeak it through Vladislav Sukhachyov’s pads to make it 1-0.

A goal explosion in the final five minutes of the period resulted in a 2-2 tie heading into the intermission. At 15:09, Minnesota Wild prospect Dimitri Sokolov knotted the game up at one apiece, only to see Timothy Liljegren score from the point at 17:32. Klim Kostin finished off the period by tying the game up again, creating a rather equal start to the game.

The Russians had four straight penalties to start the second, but the Swedes still couldn’t manage to find the back of the net. On an early two-man advantage, Sweden took seven shots on net, only to have Vladislav Sukhachyov stop all of them.

Sweden hadn’t lost a round robin game since 2008, and they weren’t planning on letting Russia change that fact for them. With 5:39 left in the game, Glen Gustafsson took advantage of Sukhachyov falling to get a good grip on a flying puck, instead putting it back in play for Gustafsson to bat in, giving Sweden the 3-2 lead.

But with 3:45 to go, the Russians scored one to tie it up again. This time, Alexei Polodyan tied the game up for Russia, the third time in the game to force extra time. The Russians scored first in the shootout, but back-to-back goals in the skills compeition meant that Sweden would escape with the 4-3 win in a very tight battle.

Sweden will meet up with Slovakia in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, while Russia will meet up with the United States at 8:00 PM later that night.

Photo from Anders Marshall/Euro Hockey

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