The Tre Kronor had no problem grabbing their first win of the tournament against Slovakia, defeating their opponents 7-0 on Tuesday to end the preliminary round.
The game featured just four penalty minutes all game, all courtesy of Sweden during the third period. Because of this, the game proved to be more about skill, which the boys in yellow and blue had a lot of. Linus Weissbach got the ball rolling at the halfway mark of the first, despite the Slovaks having the majority of the pressure in the minutes prior. William Fällström got his first of two goals four minutes after showing some good chemistry with Alexander Nylander, brother of Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Nylander. Tim Wahlgren added a third goal just for good measure before the period came to a close.
The second period would see the final score decided. First, Fällström got his final goal of the contest, assisted by Nylander, only to see the latter score three minutes later to make it 5-0. At 6:03 into the period, Alexander Andersson, a prospect with the Växjö Lakers organization in Sweden, made it 6-0 Sweden. Pontus Karlsson completed the dominant run with Sweden’s seventh goal of the game, good enough to secure the easy victory. Filip Gustavsson looked strong for the Sweden once again, helping his team win their first victory of the tournament with a 21 save shutout.
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