Canada finishes world junior preliminary round with big win over Sweden

Canada closed out the preliminary round with a convincing 5-1 win over Sweden, clinching second spot in Group A.

The Canadians will play Slovakia in the quarterfinal on Monday. Finland Sweden will play their rivals from Finland in what is always a good matchup, regardless of tournament.

The start was as perfect as you can ask for if you’re a Canadian fan. Just 57 seconds into the game, Connor Bedard found Joshua Roy in front of the net and Roy fired a shot past a stunned Carl Lindbom to make it 1-0.

At 2:08, Canada doubled it up on the man advantage after Bedard set up Shane Wright, who found his former Don Mills Flyers teammate Brennan Othmann all alone.

Tyson Hinds extended the lead to three goals at 11:45. He capitalized after Bedard’s pass to Logan Stankoven eventually made it to the Canadian defenseman, who whipped it past Lindbom to make it 3-0.

The Swedes got a bit of relief at 16:21. After Zack Ostapchuk was ejected for kneeing, defenseman Ludvig Jansson made it 3-1 with a point shot that goaltender Thomas Milic couldn’t see.

Nobody found a way to score in the second, even after both squads had various opportunities. But just 35 seconds into the third, Othmann’s second of the night put the game to rest, taking Dylan Guenther’s feed undetected around the net and quickly knocked it in for the 4-1 goal.

Minutes later, Canada found itself in a difficult spot. After being on the receiving end of an awkward hit, Colton Dach left the game while screaming in pain, holding his left arm. He didn’t return to the game.

Fortunately for Canada, they’d score another to ease the pain. With Kevin Korchinski’s first of the tournament, Bedard tied the Canadian all-time points record with 18 in a single tournament, which also tied Trevor Zegras and Brayden Schenn for the most in the 21st century. The point was also his 31st in tying him with Eric Lindros for the most by a Canadian ever.