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3-1 again for Team Sweden
Not a top performance by Sweden that still manage to beat Slovakia.
Sweden won their second game of the WJC by beating Slovakia 3-1. Sweden did what they needed to do to win but didn't shine and they need to do better in the future games if they want to compete for medals. Sweden dominated the game clearly during the first two periods but failed to take really good advantage of it and gave the Slovaks a chance to come back into the game in the third period. Slovakia's offense was quite weak but Jacob Markström was forced to make some really good saves.
Sweden got a perfect start of the game when Simon Hjalmarsson made it 1-0 already after 1:02. Mikael Backlund doubled the lead after 14:42 on a power play. Both goals were scored after invidual efforts, quite typical for Sweden as most of their attacks was built up by dribbling instead of passing.
The second period were very one sided and Jaroslav Janus kept Slovakia in the game with 20 saves (a total of ). At 33:30 however he was beaten once again when Erik Karlsson made it 3-0 for Sweden.
When the third period started the Swedes seemed to be thinking the game was already over. Some sloppy defending gave Slovakia a power play and Martin Uhnak was finally able to beat Markström for 3-1. The goal gave the Slovaks some more confidence and the third period was more even than the two first but the Slovaks actually never really close to tie the game.
Best player of the game award in each team was given to Mikael Backlund and Martin Staijnoch.
Sweden - Slovakia 3-1 (2-0,1-0,0-1)
1-0 (1:02) Simon Hjalmarsson (Svensson Pääjärvi, Andersson)
2-0 (14:42) Mikael Backlund (Möller, Karlsson) PP
3-0 (33:30) Erik Karlsson (Backlund, Hedman)
3-1 (45:33) Martin Uhnak (Viedensky, Tatar)
Shots: 44-27 (10-9,21-5,13-13)
PIM: 10-14
Story added on 29th December 2008 at 10:09 GMT
Story submitted by: Fredrik Pålsson.
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