Swiss stun Canada; Sweden crushes US
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Switzerland stunned title favorite Canada 3-2 to reach only its third final of the world ice hockey championship on Saturday.
The Swiss will play the gold medal game on Sunday against defending champion Sweden, which strode into the final by crushing the United States 6-0.
Canada and the U.S. will play for bronze.
Canada goaltender Darcy Kuemper made some great saves in the first period before Tristan Scherwey scored the goahead goal for Switzerland with 1:19 remaining in the first period.
Bo Horvat tied it in the second but Switzerland proved resilient, and Gregory Hofmann restored the Swiss lead on a power play.
Gaetan Haas struck again on a power play in the third, redirecting into the net a shot by Sven Andrighetto from the point.
Colton Parayko blasted a slap shot past Swiss goaltender Leonardo Genoni to reduce the lead with 2:07 left in the final period as Canada pulled Kuemper for an extra attacker in vain.
Switzerland lost its only two previous finals in 1935 and 2013, while Sweden is going for a third world title in six years, and 11th overall.
The Swedes set up their victory over the Americans with three goals in a 3:07 span midway through the second period.
“We didn’t play our best game but we put up a lot of goals,” forward Patric Hornqvist said. “We still have some improvement to do for the game tomorrow.”
Viktor Arvidsson led Sweden with two goals and goalie Anders Nielsen made 41 saves for the shutout.
Trailing 1-0 in the second, the U.S. had a four-minute power play but allowed a short-handed goal by Magnus Paajarvi, who scored on a rebound after goaltender Keith Kinkaid stopped Mikael Backlund on a breakaway.
Hornqvist stretched the lead to 3-0 on a power play, and Sweden underlined its control when Mattias Janmark made it 4-0 just 11 seconds later.