Connor Bedard continues his record-breaking work as Canada beats Sweden

Canada defeated Sweden in the final round of the tournament’s toughest competition. Connor Bedard led Canada, and they won. 5-1 win. Bedard completed the game with four assist, which tied him for the most goals ever scored by a Canadian at World Juniors. It also ended up being the Canadian who had the most points at the World Juniors.

Canada’s win set up a quarterfinal matchup against Slovakia on Monday.

Bedard continued his torrid pace in the opening frame, assisting on each of Canada’s three first-period goals. Logan Stankoven, who was in control of the puck and fought off the Swedish defenders to get it into Brandt Clarke’s high slot, opened the game. Clarke made a shot-pass through traffic, before Bedard corralled it to the right of net and faked a shot. He then slid a pass towards Joshua Roy, a Montreal Canadiens draft choice, in the slot. This was only 57 seconds into game.

Over a minute later, Bedard led the rush to the zone. Shane Wright was found in open ice on the right wing. Wright fed a puck to Brennan Othmann of the New York Rangers, and he scored his first goal of the tournament.

Picking up his third point of the period, Bedard battled to keep a play alive just inside Sweden’s blue line before finding Logan Stankoven in the middle of the ice. Stankoven slid a short pass to Tyson Hinds in the high slot, who blasted a one-timer over Lindbom’s glove to put Canada ahead 3-0. Sweden scored their only goal of the game at 16:21 on the first power play. Ludvig Jansson slipped a pass to Tyson Hinds in the high slot, who blasted a one-timer over Lindbom’s glove.

Othmann scored his second goal of game after a scoreless second quarter. He did this 35 seconds into the final period. After some solid board work from Wright and Ethan Del Mastro created a turnover in Sweden’s zone, Arizona Coyotes forward Dylan Guenther found Othmann off the back post. Lindbom couldn’t reach Othmann’s shot sliding across the crease, giving Canada the 4-1 lead.

Bedard, who scored 18 points in four games, was the final scorer. Bedard made another mistake and connected with Kevin Korchinski. He was able to slide down to the goal line, beating Lindbom just short.

Canada was able to win the regulation and move up to second place in Group B, just behind Czechia. Canada beat Canada earlier in the tournament. Canada received solid netminding against Sweden from Milic, with the Seattle Thunderbirds’ netminder stopping 22 shots. Milic will almost certainly be back in net against Slovakia.

Slovakia was third in Group B. It has considerable firepower, including Filip Mesar, Canadiens’ first-round pick, and second-overall pick of New Jersey Devils Simon Nemec. Also, draft-eligible prospects Alex Ciernik, and Dalibor Dvorsky, 2023.

Czechia will play Switzerland in the other quarterfinal matchups. USA will face Germany as Group B winner. Sweden will play their Scandinavian rivals Finland, meaning either the bronze or silver medal team from this summer’s World Junior tournament will be eliminated in the quarterfinals. In the hopes of avoiding relegation, Latvia will face Austria.

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