(Edmonton) Team Canada scored three unanswered first period goals, including one on the power play, en route to a 4-3 win over Sweden on Monday night in a preseason game for the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Posted at 10:50 p.m.
Nathan Gaucher, Mason McTavish, Kent Johnson and Joshua Roy found the back of the net for the Canadian team, which led 3-1 after 40 minutes of play before having to resist a good attempt to come back from the Swedes in the third period.
Theodor Niederbach, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and William Wallinder provided the response for Sweden, which suffered a 2-1 overtime loss against Finland in another preseason game, played on August 4th.
For Canada, it was their only outing before the start of the tournament.
Canada outshot their rivals 30-26 and scored one goal in four tries on the power play. The Swedes were held in check in five attempts.
Dyland Garand started the game in front of Canada’s goal and blocked all 15 shots he faced. He gave way to Sebastian Cossa at 9:21 of the second period. Cossa conceded three goals on 11 shots.
Canada and Sweden will play their first match of the tournament on Wednesday, against Latvia and Switzerland, respectively.
Competition begins Tuesday with three games. Slovakia will face the Czech Republic as a curtain raiser. Later in the day, Finland will clash with Latvia while Germany will do battle with the United States.
All tournament games will be played on the rink at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
The first attempt to hold the World Junior Hockey Championship in December was halted due to the spread of COVID-19. The relaunch of the tournament brings together 10 teams.