2022  m w c  preview  c a n  s w e

Men’s Worlds Preview: Canada vs. Sweden

Thursday, May 26 | 9:20 a.m. ET | Tampere, Finland | Quarterfinal

May 25, 2022
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TV: TSN | Stream: TSN Direct

The playoff round gets underway at the 2022 IIHF World Championship on Thursday, with Canada’s National Men’s Team, the third-place team in Group A, facing off against Group B runner-up Sweden in the quarterfinals.

LAST GAME

Coming off back-to-back losses, Canada was looking to spark its offence again in its last preliminary round game against France on Tuesday, and a 7-1 win did just that. It was a bit of a slow start for both teams, with no scoring until after the midway mark of the first period, when Travis Sanheim opened things up for Canada. Max Comtois added the eventual game-winner before the end of the opening frame. Pierre-Luc Dubois added two goals and an assist in the final 40 minutes and Chris Driedger made 18 saves to secure the win.

Sweden also wrapped up preliminary round play on Tuesday, in a tight 1-0 victory over Latvia. William Nylander had the lone goal for the Swedes, who finished just behind the Finns in Group B. Linus Ullmark made 21 saves for the shutout.

LAST MEETING

These two powerhouse nations haven’t met at worlds since 2017, when Canada suffered a tightly contested 2-1 shootout loss in the gold medal game. Victor Hedman opened the scoring for Sweden with a shorthanded goal in the last minute of the second period before Ryan O’Reilly answered for Canada on the power play early in the third. Calvin Pickard made 40 saves and Henrik Lundqvist had 42 of his own to get the game to a shootout, where Nicklas Backstrom and Oliver Ekman-Larsson counted the lone goals for Sweden.

WHAT TO WATCH

Eric O’Dell was the final Canadian to earn a point Tuesday in his second appearance. And now that the offence is rolling again, the biggest question for Canada remains in net with goaltender Logan Thompson listed day-to-day. He hasn’t dressed for the last two games after starting four of Canada’s previous five.

Sweden has been adding players throughout the event, though none more impactful than Nylander. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward has two goals in two games and adds more depth to its roster, which features 12 NHLers. That includes goaltender Magnus Hellberg (Detroit Red Wings) who has started four games and has a .931 save percentage.

A LOOK BACK

In the most historically-even match-up so far at worlds, Canada still holds the edge over Sweden in wins and goal differential in 67 previous meetings.

Prior to the 2017 loss, Canada had picked up five-straight wins, including a 6-0 quarterfinal victory the previous year en route to a gold medal. Mark Scheifele had the lone goal in the first period, while Matt Dumba, Brad Marchand and Max Domi added one each in the second. Mark Stone and Derick Brassard rounded out the rout.

All-time record: Canada leads 35-27-5 (W-L-T)
Canada goals: 238
Sweden goals: 188

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

emadziya@hockeycanada.ca 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

ssharkey@hockeycanada.ca

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

jknight@hockeycanada.ca

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