Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon and Canada looking to bounce back against Sweden
Photo credit: The Score
Canada's National Men's Team will face co-host Sweden on Tuesday to wrap up the preliminary round of the 2025 IIHF World Championship in a battle for the top spot in Group A.
Canada aims to bounce back from its first tournament loss, a 2-1 shootout defeat to Finland on Monday.
Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon and Canada will try to close out their final preliminary game of the World Championship with a win over Sweden on Tuesday.
Former Avalanche forward Ryan O'Reilly got things started with a shorthanded goal in the second period, but Patrick Puistola evened the score in the third, sending the game into overtime. Kent Johnson scored in the shootout, but Finland netted two goals against Marc-André Fleury, who stopped 20 shots during regulation and overtime.
Sweden kept its perfect record in the preliminary round with a 4-0 win over France on Saturday. Lucas Raymond and Emil Heineman scored back-to-back goals early in the first period. Elias Lindholm added a power-play goal in the second, and Isac Lundestrom sealed the victory with a goal early in the third. Samuel Ersson earned the shutout by making 15 saves.
Shannon Coulter from Hokcey Canada writes that O'Reilly is reaching a major milestone as he prepares to surpass Ryan Smyth for the most games played by a Canadian at the IIHF World Championship.
The upcoming match against Sweden will mark O'Reilly's 62nd game in his Worlds Championship career, which began in 2012. The 34-year-old has accumulated 18 goals and 42 points over 61 games so far.
Throughout his career, O'Reilly has represented Canada in numerous tournaments, including the 2008 World U17 Hockey Challenge, the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championship, the 2008 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament, and seven IIHF World Championships.
"No opponent has been a more frequent foe for Canada at the IIHF World Championship than Sweden; Tuesday's game will mark the 70th meeting between the longtime rivals, dating back to a scoreless tie in 1931." -Coulter
Since 2000, Canada has held the advantage in their head-to-head matchups against Sweden, posting a 12-6 record over that span. Their latest victory came in the 2022 quarterfinals, when Drake Batherson scored just 43 seconds into overtime to secure a 4-3 win and send Canada to the semifinals.
Puck drop is set for Tuesday at 12:20pm MT.
| POLL | ||
MAI 20 | 17 ANSWERS Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon and Canada looking to bounce back against Sweden Do you think Canadian forward Nathan MacKinnon will score against Sweden on Tuesday? | ||
| yes | 16 | 94.1 % |
| no | 1 | 5.9 % |
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