United States crushes Sweden to win bronze medal
by from on (#ZQ3Y)
Sweden appeared completely deflated Tuesday as the United States scored early and often for a dominant 8-3 win in the bronze medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The United States heads home with its first medal since claiming gold in 2013. It was another disappointing tournament for Sweden, finishing fourth for the second consecutive year after going undefeated in the preliminary round.
Here's what you need to know:
- Sweden made a surprising goaltending change for the game, going with Felix Sandstrom in place of Linus Soderstrom, who made five of six starts in the tournament.
- The decision proved costly as Sandstrom struggled, allowing eight goals on 29 shots.
- On the other end, Alex Nedeljkovic concluded his impressive WJHC with 35 saves for the United States. The Carolina Hurricanes second-round pick finished the tournament with a 1.66 GAA and .943 save percentage.
- Sweden's William Lagesson and Carl Grundstrom scored back-to-back goals in under a minute to tie the game before the end of the first period, but the Americans went on to score six unanswered goals.
- Auston Matthews did not register a point for the second consecutive game, finishing the tournament with 11 points in seven games.
- Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals and an assist to tie Matthews for the team lead in points. He matches his father Keith, who also won a bronze medal for the United States in 1992.
- Ryan Donato and Anders Bjork - who was named player of the game thanks to an impressive tally - also scored a pair of goals each.
- The United States has now won six medals since 2004.
Copyright (C) 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.