Sweden steamrolls Team USA 6-0 in semifinal at World Championship
The Americans will play Canada for bronze Sunday.
Nashville Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals and Vancouver Canucks goaltender Anders Nilsson made 41 saves to lead Sweden to a 6-0 victory over the United States in the semifinal round Saturday at the World Championship in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sweden, the reigning Worlds champion, will play Switzerland in the gold-medal game Sunday. Switzerland stunned Canada 3-2 in the other semifinal. Sweden and Switzerland also met in the 2013 gold-medal game, with Sweden winning its ninth Worlds title.
The Swedes defeated Switzerland 5-3 in the preliminary round of this year’s tournament.
Team USA will play for bronze against Canada. The U.S. has won bronze twice in the last five years in 2013 and 2015. Canada won gold in 2015 and 2016, but fell to Sweden in the 2017 gold-medal game.
Team USA edged Canada 5-4 in a shootout during the preliminary round earlier this month.
Calgary Flames’ Makael Backlund had three assists, while Ottawa Senators’ Magnus Paajarvi, Pittsburgh Penguins’ Patric Hornqvist, Dallas Stars’ Mattias Janmark and Los Angeles Kings’ Adrian Kempe also scored.
Arvidsson knocked in a shot past New Jersey Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid at 14:43 to give Sweden a 1-0 first-period lead. Paajarvi, Hornqvist and Janmark followed in the second and Arvidsson and Kempe piled on two more in the third.
Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, who leads the tournament with 19 points, had three shots in 22:02 of ice time, while defenseman Connor Murphy logged two shots in 16:58. Hawks winger Alex DeBrincat did not record a shot.
Despite the loss, Team USA is guaranteed a top-four finish for the fourth time in six years.
