Brannstrom, Ersson big in Swedish victory over Finland

In one of the most highly-anticipated games of the World Junior Hockey Championships, Sweden would keep their round-robin streak alive at 45-straight wins after beating their hated rivals from Finland 2-1.

A lot of the attention in the early going was the impressive play by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, considered to be one of the top goaltenders in the tournament. Luukkonen made a couple of huge stops early in the game, including a wraparound chance where he got the pad on the goal line just in time to make the stop.

But the Swedes would get a pair of goals from their star player, defenceman Erik Brannstrom, to take the 2-0 lead before the halfway point of the game. At 13:14, Brannstrom converted on a power play chance after Isac Lundestrom got the puck out to the point, beating Luukkonen for the 1-0 goal.

10 minutes later, Brannstrom scored on a nearly identical play. This time, Emil Bemstrom found Brannstrom from the point, with the Vegas Golden Knights star prospect blowing the disk past the Finnish netminder to make it 2-0.

Two of the other World Junior games ended with a 2-1 result, so it was rather fitting that this one would, too. Kaapo Kakko, one of the top draft prospects heading into June's selection process in nearby Vancouver, would set up New Jersey Devils prospect Aarne Talvitie in front. Talvitie would capitalize on the one-timed opportunity, sliding the puck past Ersson to make it 2-1 late in the contest. The Finns would get a few chances after that, but Ersson's 29-save effort was enough to secure the 2-1 victory to finish the opening day of action in Victoria.

Both teams will be back in action on Thursday, as Sweden will play Slovakia at 3:30 PM, while the Finns will remain in the late time slot as they take on Kazakhstan at 7:30 PM.

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