William Nylander, Sweden to face USA in Quarter Finals after win vs. Latvia

It was perhaps a bit shocking to see Team Sweden participate in the play-off rounds as the seventh-seeded team in the tournament, but after a sizeable loss to Finland and a closer win than they’d probably like over Italy, Sweden finished third in their pool in the name of goal differential and found themselves up against Latvia in the play-offs. They won relatively handily over Latvia, by a score of 5-1, and will immediately have their tallest task to date with a quarter-final matchup against the United States incoming on Wednesday.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander tallied a goal and an assist in the win, giving him four points through four games so far for Team Sweden. Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe opened the scoring a little over halfway into the first period, with Nylander picking up an assist on the tally, and 40 seconds later, Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog made it 2-0 with helpers from Lucas Raymond and Mika Zibanejad.

Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg kicked things off for Team Sweden in the second period before Latvia forward Eduards Tralmaks scored to bring them within two as the teams headed into the third period, but Sweden made sure to put the final nail in the coffin. Zibanejad scored to make it 4-1 just under six minutes into the frame, and Nylander scored his second of the tournament with helpers from Raymond and Rasmus Dahlin to ensure that there would be no comeback attempt from Latvia, eventually securing the 5-1 win.

With the win, Sweden will face USA in an earlier-than-expected heavyweight matchup in the quarter finals, which means that one of Nylander/Oliver Ekman-Larsson or Auston Matthews will be going home early. While the States will be favoured in this game, and rightfully so, it could be anybody’s game depending on who has the hotter hands that day. Canada, meanwhile, will face Czechia at 10:40 am eastern time for their quarter-final matchup.

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