Sweden Stops Finland in Group C Round-Robin Finale

Team Sweden has kept their perfect record intact at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, defeating their rivals from Finland 3-1 on Sunday evening.

The Swedes would strike first, just minutes after having a goal waved-off due to a high-stick. At 14:53 in the opening period, a trio of Edmonton Oilers would get the Swedes on the board when Anton Lander beat a slower-moving Finnish defender before backhanding a shot past Mikko Koskinen, giving Sweden the 1-0 lead. Goaltender Viktor Fasth and Linus Omark would both grab assists on the play, with all three of the connecting players having represented the Edmonton Oilers at some point.

Finland would tie the game up at 1:32 of the second period.Former Boston Bruins Joonas Kemppainen was in the right spot at the right time after waiting around the net, just waiting to find the puck. The disk would bounce off a Swedish defender in the crease and land close to Kemppainen, who would tap in the goal to tie the contest up at one.

Sweden didn't look great in the second period, but shortly after killing a penalty in the third, Tre Kronor put themselves back in the lead. Patrik Zackrisson would get the goal after getting a rebound opportunity off of a Johan Fransson shot, putting the Swedes their second advantage of the game to make it 2-1. Oscar Moller would score on the empty net to make it 3-1 with five seconds left, securing the win for the team in yellow and blue.

Sweden will get an extra day of rest before they play the winner of Germany vs Switzerland, a contest taking place on Tuesday on the quarter-finals. Finland, as the top-ranked seed in the qualification round, will play against South Korea, the lowest seed in the tournament, with the winner taking on Canada the next day in the quarter-finals. 

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