Team North America downs Sweden in thrilling overtime win

TORONTO – So far in the World Cup of Hockey, Team North America’s quick strike ability has been their calling card.

The group’s knack to score goals in bunches with their speed has enabled them to keep pace with some of the world’s greatest hockey nations. In their last game of group play the team made of up of NHL stars from the U.S. and Canada age 23-and-under used this prodigious skill to once again push the pace to beat Sweden 4-3 with a dramatic overtime finish.

North America will await the result of Russia/Finland on Thursday to find out if they make the semifinal round. Sweden picked up a point to push them into the semifinal. Any type of losing scenario for Russia will enable Team North America to keep playing in the tournament.

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Goaltender John Gibson settled down after a shaky start to make 35 saves. Team North America outshot the normally stingy Swedes 49-38.

Nathan MacKinnon scored the game winner in the 3-on-3 overtime with 48.8 seconds left. MacKinnon found himself all alone in front of the net and deked out Swedish goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

“I was pretty tired actually was my first thought when I got the puck. It was at my feet, so I didn’t want to mess that up,” MacKinnon said. “Then I was just kind of dribbling the puck, and I saw his stick came up for a poke check and managed to beat that and get it up. It was fun, a fun goal.”

MacKinnon’s goal came after a back-and-forth effort from both teams that included huge saves by both Gibson and Lundqvist. On one stop, Lundqvist denied Connor McDavid in front of the net off a feed from Mark Scheifele with a big split.

Gibson, meanwhile, seemed to constantly be under fire by a trio that included Daniel and Henrik Sedin along with star offensive defenseman Erik Karlsson. Just before MacKinnon’s goal, Gibson made a sterling save on Daniel Sedin.

Both teams combined for seven shots on goal in the extra session, five of which were taken by Team North America.

“Certainly in overtime I think both teams were playing to win,” North America coach Todd McLellan said. “It was like oh, no, and go, one after another. So very exciting, but we played to win. We played to win down the stretch.”

With 13:10 left in the third period Swedish forward Patrik Berglund tipped home a shot from Karlsson past Gibson to tie the game at 3-3. Berglund’s goal was the first after a wild, offensively charged first period and a fast and furious second period for Team North America that saw them outshoot Sweden 37-27.

Sweden slowed down the pace of the game and frustrated North America with a strong defensive presence. They limited Team North America to just seven shots on goal in the third.

“I told myself that, ‘If I don’t wake up here, I’m going to let me teammates down,’” Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “I feel like every single player on our bench did the same thing and after that I feel like even though they played some good hockey and they had their fair chances, I feel like we took over more and we created our own chances and really evolved as a team.”

Team North America got on the scoreboard first in emphatic fashion. Just 30 seconds into the frame, Auston Matthews cleaned up a rebound off a Morgan Rielly shot in front of the Sweden net.

Before the goal, Matthews kept the play alive by doing some stickhandling work in the Swedish zone. It was Matthews’ second goal of the tournament.

With 18:25 left in the first, Vincent Trocheck slipped home a rebound past Lundqvist from a Shayne Gostisbehere point shot to put the score at 2-0.

This was part of a barrage of shots by the speedy North Americans as they got off to a fast start. Through the first 5:40 of the first period, North America out-shot the Swedes 11-1. One of these was a missed penalty shot by Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau.

“I feel like that’s their key, to start off good and maybe knock teams out right away,” Swedish forward Nicklas Backstrom said.

Team Sweden got back into the game with 11:36 left in the first. Filip Forsberg fired a wrist shot past Gibson to put the game at 2-1. But North America’s quick strike ability hit Sweden again shortly after.

Near the end of the first Gostisbehere found Gaudreau for a breakaway. The Flames forward went to his backhand and faked back to his forehand to put North America up 3-1 with 6:03 left in the period.

Team Sweden then cut the lead on a Nicklas Backstrom rebound goal off a Forsberg shot with 3:32 left in the first to make the game 3-2. This seemed to calm down the Swedes and prevent North America from running away with the game, which they did against Finland in their tournament opener.

Team North America has been the most exciting team in the tournament and it’s up to Finland to beat Russia in order to keep the group in the World Cup. In the game against Sweden, the crowd of 19,104 at Air Canada Centre mostly cheered for Team North America, with a few shouts of ‘Auston Matthews!’ in honor of the Toronto Maple Leafs No. 1 overall pick in 2016.

Even if they don’t go further, this contest could be a spectacular conclusion to North America’s run this tournament.

“I think we definitely have turned some heads. People didn’t know what to expect when we came into this tournament, but we’ve beat two good hockey teams, and ultimately maybe even should have beat the Russians,” forward Connor McDavid said. “I think we’ve definitely turned some heads and opened the eyes of everyone what the future of the NHL is like. We’re definitely excited about that.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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