Swedes had no problems with Poland, duo of star NHL backs shined

Sweden is one of the biggest favourites for the championship this year, while Poland is taking part in the World Championships for the first time in 22 years. Sweden’s comfortable win is no surprise, especially when the NHL’s star duo Hedman – Karlsson showed up in great form.

Six years. That’s how long Sweden has been waiting for a World Championship medal, and it’s its longest fast, having gone the longest without a World Championship plaque for three years. And that’s why they brought an extremely loaded team to the Czech Republic.

Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, Rasmus Dahlin, Adrian Kempe, Lucas Raymond and Joel Eriksson. These are all NHL stars, no ordinary hockey players. That’s why Tre Konor, along with the USA, was named the tournament’s favorite.

This was confirmed in their first game against the USA, which they beat 5:2. In the second game of the championship, the Swedes faced Poland, one of the weakest teams at the championship.

And the yellow and blue started early. In the fifth minute, Hedman sent Johansson out on the left wing, whose pass in front of the net was knocked into the net by Holusz. Karlsson, the other star back, also had an assist.

The Swedes’ second goal didn’t take long to come. Adrian Kempe took advantage of the Poles’ misplay and found Lucas Raymond in front of the empty net, who increased the score to 2:0. Tre Konor, however, relaxed a bit after the overwhelming start and no more goals were scored until the end of the period.

The Swedes didn’t allow any drama

There was no crazy build-up in the second period either. Only one goal was scored and that was when Burakovsky put it back underneath the onrushing captain Karlsson, who scored with a hard shot to make it 3:0.

The start of the third period was a shock. Tim Heed passed the puck to Marcus Pettersson in the defensive zone, but he stumbled and fell to the ground.

Alan Lyszczarczyk took advantage of this and went alone on the net, only to have the puck knocked off his skate behind the net. He tried to put the puck back in front of the net, but luckily hit Erik Gustafsson and reduced it to 1:3.

But Sweden didn’t allow any drama. On the power play, Burakovsky drove to the slot from the blue line and shot into the crossbar to make it 4:1. One minute later, another collaboration between the star backs saw Hedman find Karlsson, who adjusted the score to 5:1.

Source: IIHF, IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship