Team Sweden dropped a bitter 4-3 decision to Team Canada last night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Sweden started slowly against a supercharged Canadian squad, playing in front of its home crowd. The visitors erased two two-goal deficits to force overtime before Mitch Marner’s snapshot goal at 6:06 of the extra session broke Swedish hearts near sunrise in Stockholm on Tuesday morning. Despite the result, Sweden’s goalie, Filip Gustavsson, was the best player outside of First Star Sidney Crosby, who finished with a team-leading three assists for Canada.
Filip Gustavsson Shines in Loss
After tying the game at three a few minutes before, Gustavsson made a sprawling pad save on Canadian defenseman Devon Toews at 11:06 of the third period to keep his team in it. The Minnesota Wild product read the passing play from Canadian superstars before stopping his left-moving momentum to dive back across the crease to make a save with his right pad. “They slide it down to McDavid there, and he’s just holding the puck,” Gustavsson said after the game. “I just try to get over as much as I can, and I got (a) piece of it on the blocker there.” It was a critical save when Sweden needed it the most.
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Gustavsson stopped 24/28 shots for a .857 save percentage in the contest. The 26-year-old responded well after giving up a goal on the first shot to Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon less than a minute into the game. “He was calm,” Team Sweden’s head coach Sam Hallam said. “I mean, it’s easy when it goes your way. When you give up a goal less than a minute into the game, then they’re up 2-0, with really poor support in front of him, and just keeping his calm. I think he pretty much stands for how the whole team handled the situation.”
Slow Start for the Swedes Leads to Solid Second-Period Response
Team Sweden couldn’t have had a worse start on Wednesday night. A trio of stars – Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Crosby – teamed up for a power-play goal less than 60 seconds into the tournament:
Canada looked like they were going to skate circles around Sweden with a dazzling display of speed and skill that the Swedes had no clear answer for in the first period. “It definitely happens, but obviously, you have all the (Canadian) fans at your back and everything, so they came out more excited to play than we were,” Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings said. “But after the first 10 minutes of the first period, I think honestly we felt like we were the better team the rest of the game.”
Related: Guide to the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off
Canada directed seven shots on the net compared to Sweden’s three credited shots in the first, but that does not tell the whole story. Sweden could not connect passes, essentially ending their offensive rushes before they could set up in the neutral zone. They didn’t direct a shot on Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington over the first 17 minutes of the game. However, Hallam settled things down after the first 20 minutes of play, and his team entered the second frame with a more focused effort, leading to Jonas Brodin’s goal midway through the period.
Swedish Resilience on Full Display in Third Period
Trailing 3-1 entering the third period in a hostile environment, Kempe scored a clutch snapshot goal at 1:54 that silenced the Montreal crowd. He received the puck in the neutral zone before locating a soft spot in the defensive coverage between Cale Makar and Drew Doughty, which left enough room for the L.A. Kings pivot to snap the puck past Binnington.
Sweden leveled the game on a face-off win that allowed Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond the chance to find a free patch of ice to kickstart a tic-tac-toe passing play with Jasper Bratt and Joel Eriksson Ek that tied the game at three. Minnesota’s Eriksson Ek was perfectly placed on the right post for a smooth pass from the New Jersey Devils’ Bratt, leaving Binnington with little chance to stop the cross-crease goal.
Despite the comeback attempt, Sweden is now in a difficult position in such a short tournament. By forcing the overtime session, Sweden grabbed one point in the standings, while Canada grabbed two points for the win. With each team only having three guaranteed games, regulation wins over the next week will be critical for every team in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
