Eurolanche

Dramatic win for Landeskog

Early goals in periods one and two along with their up-tempo game was enough to earn Sweden a 4-1 win over the Czech Republic. It was their second victory in as many nights at the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm. Sweden enjoyed amazing fan support from the opening whistle. The crowd was certainly festive and a major motivator for Tre Kronor tonight. In the near capacity crowd were hockey legend Mats Sundin and tennis great Björn Borg.

"We knew it was a huge game tonight," said Gabriel Landeskog. "We knew the Czechs are always a good team. So you have to stay on top of things and really capitalize on the chances you get. I thought we did a good job of staying patient."

Sweden got on the board at 2:42 into the first period when Johan Franzén scored his first of the tournament. With a good second effort, Franzén outmuscled Miroslav Blatak in front of the net to put in the rebound off Jakub Stepanek. Loui Eriksson and Henrik Zetterberg added assists. "There was a loose puck there in front of the net that I tried to get to," said Franzén. "I had to move the defenceman. It wasn’t a cross-check. It’s part of my game, trying to be in front and be a big body."

In the first and second periods, Sweden appeared to be clicking on all cylinders. They moved the puck with speed and used precision passing to keep much of the action in the Czech Republic end of the ice. They outshot the Czechs 9-5 but that did not tell the story on how many quality chances Sweden had created. "We just have to move the puck better a little bit better from the defensive zone," said Ales Hemsky. "We also have to move it better in the offensive zone. We don’t really spend too much time over there. It’s important to work as a five-man unit."

Sweden continued to attack and almost added another goal at the halfway point of the period. Franzén, who had an outstanding game, set Zetterberg up for a quick snapshot that Stepanek turned aside and minutes later Niklas Kronwall deked a Czech defender for a shot that was also turned away. Finally, Erik Karlsson sent a booming slapshot on goal that hit Stepanek in the mask.

Fifty seconds into the second period Niklas Kronwall scored a fluky goal to up the Swedes up two. Kronwall had the puck at a sharp angle and took a shot that somehow found its way through Stepanek’s pads on his stick side and went into the net. Zetterberg and Eriksson both earned their second assist apiece in the game.

Sweden nearly added a third, which would have put the game clearly out of reach when Victor Hedman’s slapper squeezed through Stepanek’s pads. Stepanek had come out to challenge the shooter and was well out of this crease. The puck was almost put into the empty net by Gabriel Landeskog but a late challenge by Petr Caslava deflecting it over.

The Czechs cut the lead to 2-1 when Jakub Petruzalek scored off a bad giveaway by Viktor Fasth. The Czechs dumped the puck to the left of Fasth who tried to clear it out of the zone but didn’t get enough on the attempt. The errant pass went directly to the stick of Petruzalek who converted on his chance.

Joel Lundqvist tipped a Niklas Persson shot into the net to make it 3-1 at 10:24 of the period and Persson added an empty netter in the waning minutes of the contest.

-by John Sanful for IIHF.com-