photo: Andre Ringuette/IIHF
Sweden kept rolling along this afternoon at a loud and sold out Avicii Arena, skating to a dominant 4-0 win over France and maintaining a perfect record, now 6-0. France, meanwhile, drops to 0-0-1-5 and is precariously situated in seventh place of Group A, just one point ahead of winless Slovenia.
France and Slovenia play on Monday in a game that will decide which team will be demoted for 2026. It'll be either Switzerland or Division I-A, and both teams know it. Tre Kronor now has two days off to prepare for the game everyone in Stockholm has been waiting for, a showdown with Canada that might well decide first place in Group B.
“It’ll feel like a Game 7 in the playoffs for us," said French goalie Antoine Keller, who was senstional in stopping 32 of 36 shots. "But we don’t want to go down, so we’ll take it just like one more game."
Samuel Ersson stopped just 15 shots for the shutout, and Sweden has now posted three successive blank sheets. They currently have a shutout streak of 186:56 going back to their 2-1 win over Finland four games ago.
"We've been controlling the games from beginning to end, and our goalies have been great when we've needed them,” coach Sam Hallam said fo the shutout streak.
Lucas Raymond and Isac Lundestrom each had a goal and an assist, and with his sixth goal of the tournament Elias Lindholm moves into a tie in tournament scoring in both goals (6) and points (10).
“We had a lot of offensive zone time, created a lot chances and won the game," said Filip Forsberg. "These are important games. We can't afford to lose any points here, and we can show other teams that Sweden’s here to play.”
"Sweden’s a really good team, and I think we started well, but then things got difficult for us and they could basically end the game," Keller added. "It’s frustrating not to get the results with us, but that’s international hockey."
The Swedes got off to exactly the start they wanted, taking the play to France, generating shots, and giving their own goalie, Ersson, a relatively light workout. The scoring in the opening period took place in a 58-second span midway through on two similar goals.
First, Raymond got a shot off from the top of the left circle that beat Antoine Keller on the glove side at 13:27. Then, Emil Heineman did pretty much the same thing from the other side. Both goals were high shots off quick releases with men in front to give Keller a little something extra to think about.
The Swedes added to their lead early in the second when Lindholm scored his fourth goal in less than 24 hours and tournament-leading sixth overall. He took a pass in close from Mikael Backlund and redirected it on goal, but it hit the skate of Pierre Crinon and bounced over the head of Keller and in at 4:39.
France had two great chances to get back into the game, but came away with nary a shot on goal. Louis Boudon made a clever pass in centre ice directly ahead to Alexandre Texier, and Texier went in alone only to fire a shot wide.
Later in the period, Baptiste Bruche cleverly stripped Filip Forsberg of the puck at the France blue line and hustled in alone, and he also blasted a shot wide of the target.
Despite failing to convert on two overlapping power plays early in the htird, Sweden upped their lead to 4-0 at 4:05. A point shot from Eric Gustafsson was nicely tipped by Forsberg, but the puck then bounced off the skate of Lundestrom and past a helpless Keller.
France and Slovenia play on Monday in a game that will decide which team will be demoted for 2026. It'll be either Switzerland or Division I-A, and both teams know it. Tre Kronor now has two days off to prepare for the game everyone in Stockholm has been waiting for, a showdown with Canada that might well decide first place in Group B.
“It’ll feel like a Game 7 in the playoffs for us," said French goalie Antoine Keller, who was senstional in stopping 32 of 36 shots. "But we don’t want to go down, so we’ll take it just like one more game."
Samuel Ersson stopped just 15 shots for the shutout, and Sweden has now posted three successive blank sheets. They currently have a shutout streak of 186:56 going back to their 2-1 win over Finland four games ago.
"We've been controlling the games from beginning to end, and our goalies have been great when we've needed them,” coach Sam Hallam said fo the shutout streak.
Lucas Raymond and Isac Lundestrom each had a goal and an assist, and with his sixth goal of the tournament Elias Lindholm moves into a tie in tournament scoring in both goals (6) and points (10).
“We had a lot of offensive zone time, created a lot chances and won the game," said Filip Forsberg. "These are important games. We can't afford to lose any points here, and we can show other teams that Sweden’s here to play.”
"Sweden’s a really good team, and I think we started well, but then things got difficult for us and they could basically end the game," Keller added. "It’s frustrating not to get the results with us, but that’s international hockey."
The Swedes got off to exactly the start they wanted, taking the play to France, generating shots, and giving their own goalie, Ersson, a relatively light workout. The scoring in the opening period took place in a 58-second span midway through on two similar goals.
First, Raymond got a shot off from the top of the left circle that beat Antoine Keller on the glove side at 13:27. Then, Emil Heineman did pretty much the same thing from the other side. Both goals were high shots off quick releases with men in front to give Keller a little something extra to think about.
The Swedes added to their lead early in the second when Lindholm scored his fourth goal in less than 24 hours and tournament-leading sixth overall. He took a pass in close from Mikael Backlund and redirected it on goal, but it hit the skate of Pierre Crinon and bounced over the head of Keller and in at 4:39.
France had two great chances to get back into the game, but came away with nary a shot on goal. Louis Boudon made a clever pass in centre ice directly ahead to Alexandre Texier, and Texier went in alone only to fire a shot wide.
Later in the period, Baptiste Bruche cleverly stripped Filip Forsberg of the puck at the France blue line and hustled in alone, and he also blasted a shot wide of the target.
Despite failing to convert on two overlapping power plays early in the htird, Sweden upped their lead to 4-0 at 4:05. A point shot from Eric Gustafsson was nicely tipped by Forsberg, but the puck then bounced off the skate of Lundestrom and past a helpless Keller.
France vs Sweden - 2025 IIHF WM
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