Sweden fired puck after puck at Slovenian goalie Lukas Horak, but try as he might he couldn’t prevent Tre Kronor from skating away with a convincing 4-0 win tonight at Avicii Arena. The first three Sweden goals were scored by Elias Lindholm.

The win ensures Sweden of a place in the quarter-finals, which start next Thursday.

"Our goal is to win here," Lindholm said, "but first you have to make the playoffs and now we’re here. Tonight, I got the bounces with me. I guess I’ll have to keep shooting, because they seem to go in."

Jacob Markstrom had to make only 9 saves all night to earn the shutout for Sweden, while Horak faced 60 pucks on the night.

The game featured two teams headed in opposite directions. The win keeps Sweden with a perfect record, 5-0, and puts them back in first place of Group A. The loss adds to Slovenia’s difficulties. They are now winless, 0-5, and in last place, relegation looking them head on. They will play Austria on Sunday and France on Monday, two games critical to their hopes for survival. Sweden plays again tomorrow afternoon, against France.



"We played a good game," said Sweden defender Marcus Pettersson. "They fought hard and kept it tight a long time but we kept attacking and had a lot of shots on net. It felt like we took over more and more as the game went on. We really wanted to attack their goal. It's a good game for us."

"I think we played solid defensively," said a weary Horak. "It was 60 shots, but a lot of those weren't from the middle. We kept them to the outside. But they are a tough opponent. They have some of the best players in the world."

The first period was an odd affair. The Swedes had control of the puck the vast majority of the time and enjoyed a pronounced advantage in shots, 16-4, yet Slovenia had perhaps the best two chances of the period—neither of which resulted in a shot!

Jan Golicic fired a beauty of a pass to Marcel Mahkovec as he sliced through the slot, but his re-direct sailed over the goal. Moments later, Matic Torok held the puck patiently as he cut through the middle, but his shot to the back side was wide, even as Markstrom moved too far over in Torok’s direction.

Horak was great in the first and even more sensational in the second, when shots favoured the hosts by a whopping 23-1 margin. Lindholm opened the scoring at 5:04 after Mikael Backlund lost control of the puck. It slid right to Lindholm, and his quick shot beat Horak.

The goalie stoned Filip Forsberg a short time later, kicking out the right pad to save what looked like a sure goal. And then, on a power play, Leo Carlsson missed an open net. The fans groaned, play carried on, and the Swedes continued to dominate. 

Tre Kronor had back-to-back power plays, including 18 seconds of five-on-three, but the Slovenian defence held tight. Lindholm got his second of the period after taking a perfect pass from Marcus Pettersson at 18:05, and Forsberg hit the crossbar from in tight in an attempt to make it 3-0.

Lindholm completed his hat trick at 11:13 of the third, firing a shot under Horak's glove from the top of the circle at 11:13. Marcus Johansson added a fourth Tre Kronor goal at 16:08, breaking Lindholm's tight grip on the team's scoring this night.