PRAGUE (AP) — Carl Grundstrom scored twice to rally Sweden to a 4-2 victory over Canada and a bronze medal at the ice hockey world championship on Sunday.
Grundstrom netted the winner with 6:18 left in the final period with a shot from the left boards at Prague Arena.
Star defenseman Erik Karlsson also scored with Marcus Johansson adding an empty net goal. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves.
It’s the first podium for Sweden since winning the second of its back-to-back titles in 2018, when they beat Switzerland in the final.
“I’m proud of the way we bounced back from yesterday (losing to the Czech Republic),” said Sweden’s Victor Hedman, another star defenseman. “It’s a quick turnaround to play five games in seven days,” he said. “You lose one of the 10 games usually you’re in a pretty good shape but we lost the wrong one.”
Canada last played a bronze medal game in 2018 and lost to the United States 4-1. Since then, the Canadians won the trophy twice and finished runner-up twice with the 2020 edition cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dylan Cozens scored his tournament-leading ninth goal and Pierre-Luc Dubois added another for Canada, the 28-time champion who finishes empty handed.
Canada didn’t meet its goal to take home the gold but captain John Tavares said he had no regrets coming.
“It was really special for me to have this opportunity to be the captain and come to represent Canada, something I didn’t take lightly and really wanted to make most of it,” Tavares said.
“The guys competed hard, we just didn’t execute well enough to have the job done.”
Canada and Sweden cruised through the early stages of the tournament and both won their groups unbeaten but were undone by surprise defeats in the semis — Canada 3-2 to Switzerland in a shootout and Sweden 7-3 to the Czechs.
The Czech Republic and Switzerland meet in the gold-medal game later Sunday.
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