Eurolanche

Landeskog hangs on for 6-4 win

Led by Loui Eriksson and Viktor St?lberg's two goals apiece in the first period, Sweden dominated Denmark early but hung on to win 6-4.

At the start Sweden made it look easy with a first period that was the most dominating twenty minutes by a team at the Ericsson Globe Arena so far in the tournament. But Denmark dominated the final twenty minutes of play, coming back from 6-1 down.

With four goals in the first period, Sweden established their early dominance and effectively eroded, at the time, the confidence that Denmark may have felt coming into the tournament.

It was a tale of two teams coming into this game. Sweden was looking to stay undefeated and Denmark seeking its first tournament victory, especially coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to Italy yesterday.

Sweden came out of the gate with several good scoring chances in the first few minutes of the game. They took the play to the Danes to establish their presence before the home crowd.

Viktor St?lberg and Loui Eriksson both scored a pair of first period goals. St?lberg opened and close the scoring in the period with his first coming at 2:06 in and his last at 11:43. Eriksson scored a pair of power play goals that further ignited the Swedish engine.

Frederik Andersen, who started his third consecutive game for Denmark, faced 17 first period shots on goal.

Nichlas Hardt ended the shutout and got his team on the board with a late goal in the period. For Hardt it was his first goal of the tournament. Philip Larsen and Jannik Hansen added assists.

It was Hansen’s first game back in the lineup after serving a suspension for hitting from behind in the opening game against the Czech Republic.

In the second period, Sweden would add a pair of goals from its all-star veterans, Daniel Alfredsson and Henrik Zetterberg that seemingly put the game out of reach. But Denmark would not go down without a fight.

Hardt scored his second of the game at 18:27 of the second period to make it 6-2 and Lars Eller’s first of the game and second of the tournament 21 seconds into the third further added some momentum to the Danish team.

Denmark surged even further when Morten Green, after drawing a four-minute penalty on Victor Hedman for high sticking, beat Jhonas Enroth, making it 6-4. It was an even strength goal coming after the Hedman penalty had expired.

Despite a strong finish, Denmark’s rally ended there.

-by John Sanful-