The unexpected starter made 27 saves in a 2-1 win over Russian Federation to put Sweden in the driver’s seat to finish first in Group B.
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Jacob Markstrom led the Swedes on to the ice for warm-up with Jhonas Enroth serving as back-up goaltender.
Ovechkin thought he tied it with 7 seconds left, but officials waved it off, ruling the puck went off Ovechkin’s glove and in. “To be honest with you, I didn’t see the replay”. “I’m definitely frustrated that we didn’t put up a better game”.
Markstrom, who has competed in world championships and has won a gold medal on the global stage, had little time to settle in as he was forced to stop a Vladimir Tarasenko one-timer 30 seconds into the game.
It wasn’t until halfway through the second period when the scoring to begin, with Gabriel Landeskog’s one-timer set up by Erik Karlsson. Less than 2 minutes later, Hedman one-timed Carl Hagelin’s feed glove-side past Bobrovsky.
The New York Rangers goaltender was pulled from last Wednesday’s game after allowing five goals on 22 shots in a 6-2 loss to Team Europe.
“(We) wanted to make sure their transition game didn’t happen so quickly”, Gronberg said. “We didn’t want to get into a run and gun type of game with the Russian team because that’s where their strengths are”.
For Russia, the loss puts added significance on their Monday clash with Team North America, a potent mix of USA and Canadian players under the age of 23 who got their three-game group stage off to a flying start.
TORONTO – Jack Eichel, Johnny Gaudreau, Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon scored, Matt Murray made 24 saves and Team North America skated circles around Finland on the way to a victory.
Lundqvist, who earlier in the month took a puck to the ribs in a pre-camp scrimmage and then surrendered eight goals on 36 shots in 107:01 in a pair of pre-tournament games, reported to the rink with his teammates, but did not feel well enough to play and thus returned to his hotel a couple of hours before the match.
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Alex Ovechkin scored late in the third period to break up Markstrom’s shutout bid.
