After two victories against much weaker opponents, Canada booked its most convincing performance of the preliminary round against a country it knows well.
Connor Bedard had four assists as Canada outscored Sweden 5-1 on Saturday night in the final game of the preliminary round at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Canada (3-0-0-1) finish second in Group A with nine points, one shy of Czechia (3-0-1-0), who beat the representatives of maple leaf 5-2 at the tournament’s curtain raiser.
The Canadian team will therefore meet Slovakia in the quarter-finals, which will begin on Monday. Sweden (2-1-0-1) slipped to third place and will face Finland.
Bedard used the game to tie two Canadian records. Sound 18e point allowed him to join Dale McCourt and Brayden Schenn for the highest total in a single tournament. Sound 31e point allowed him to join Eric Lindros for the highest total at this tournament.
Brennan Othmann scored twice for Canada, who are the defending champions after beating Finland when the tournament resumed in August. Joshua Roy, Tyson Hinds and Kevin Korchinski also threaded the needle.
Thomas Milic found the net, having left it to Benjamin Gaudreau on Thursday against Austria, and he repelled 21 shots.
Ludvig Jansson scored Sweden’s only goal. Carl Lindbom gave up five times on 45 shots.
You shouldn’t be late to watch Canada’s first goal. From the 57e second of play, Bedard slid the puck towards Roy, who eluded Lindbom’s vigilance in the top corner.
The fans barely had time to sit down when their favorites doubled their lead 71 seconds later. Bedard handed the puck to Shane Wright, who delivered a spectacular cross pass to Othmann for his first goal of the tournament.
The Canadian onslaught continued a few minutes later, but Lindbom managed to hold the fort with a superb save at the expense of Wright.
It was only a postponement for Dennis Williams’ squad, who saw Hinds fire off an accurate one-timer to make it 3-0 with 8:15 left in the first period.
Less than a minute after that goal, forward Zack Ostapchuk opened the door for the Swedes by taking a major penalty for kneeing. Milic and his defense held off for almost four minutes, but Jansson closed the gap on a great shot from the point.
The second period was more divided between the two teams and the two goalkeepers managed to stand out a few times. Towards the end of the engagement, Sweden were able to play five against three for 53 seconds, but they did not take advantage of it.
Canada’s forecheck acted up early in the third period and was rewarded in the 35the second. Dylan Guenther accepted a pass from Ethan Del Mastro and approached Lindbom’s right. His cross pass found Othmann’s stick blade, who fired a reception to get his second goal of the game.
Bedard then tied both Canadian records by dropping the disc to his right for Korchinski, who found a gap to Lindbom’s left.