Sweden's Rickard Rakell celebrates during his team's comfortable victory over Austria in World Championship Group A action in Copenhagen.
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
Rickard Rakell was in inspired form for Sweden as the Tre Kronor eased to a fourth straight victory in Copenhagen. The 25-year-old collected two goals and an assist as the Swedish top line dominated once again; Austria had no answers as it slumped to another lopsided 7-0 loss.
Adrian Kempe also starred, with a goal and an assist on Gustav Nyquist’s second-period tally, and further scores from Mattias Janmark, Mika Zibanejad and Magnus Paajarvi completed the scoring.
"We want to make sure we keep working and we keep growing and creating more chemistry for four lines and rolling our lines as much as we can and preparing for what’s going to come."
After the game, Rakell was looking ahead: "We try to get better with every game. We don’t want to slow anything down right now. We know that it’s going to be tougher and tougher the longer we go on here in the group.
"We want to make sure we keep working and we keep growing and creating more chemistry for four lines and rolling our lines as much as we can and preparing for what’s going to come."
The opening goal came midway through the first period as Sweden took advantage of its first power play of the night. Mikael Backlund screened Austrian goalie David Madlener as Kempe fired home from the top of the circle. Rakell’s first big contribution of the game came late in that first session when he took a pass from Janmark and surged into the Swedish zone. The Anaheim Ducks forward had too much pace for the Austrian defence to handle and he was able to get to the doorstep and flick out a backhand pass for Janmark to tap home number two.
Madlener then pulled off a fine stick save to deny Kempe his second of the night. Backlund found his colleague in acres of space in front of the Austrian net, but the goalie got enough on it to send the puck looping over the top.
Another penalty early in the middle frame gave Sweden’s top line yet another goal – and it could have come straight out of the coaches’ play book. The puck emerged from a scrum on the left boards and the Swedes sprang into action. Two passes later and Rakell was slotting the puck into a wide open net with the Austrians unable to get close. The play was deceptively simple, the execution clinical.
Sweden vs. Austria
SWE vs. AUT
Any lingering doubts about the outcome were extinguished with a double blast just before the midway mark. First, Austria’s defence presented the puck to Rakell and Sweden’s hottest shot of the competition gleefully accepted the invitation to skate in on Madlener and make it 4-0. Then Kempe went whizzing around the back and popped up a feed for Nyquist. Stefan Ulmer could not get close enough, and Nyquist took his time and waited for Madlener to commit himself before lifting the puck over the prone goalie from a tight angle. Three goals in six minutes, three goals from six shots.
While Sweden's offence was writing the headlines, the team's defensive effort also won praise from goalie Anders Nilsson.
"It's always nice to stand back there and see how well the guys are performing, how well we're playing with the puck," he said. "Our power play has been great and our penalty kill has been really good. Today I think they had two power plays but they didn't get one shot on that, which a huge credit to the whole team in front of me."
There was time for another high-quality goal in the third. Janmark went behind the net and sent the puck out for Zibanejad. The New York Ranger’s first touch sold a dummy to Konstantin Komarek; with a good look at Madlener there was only once place the puck would go, and Zibanejad duly dispatched it. Paajarvi's raking long shot made it 7-0.
Paajarvi was another Swede thoroughly enjoying his evening. "Today was really a recipe of how good we are in the offensive zone," he said. "Our D-men are really good right now. They’re coming in, they’re coming out, they’re coming in again. It really creates a lot for us forwards. Everybody wants to have the puck, everybody wants to be open. We’re tough to play against when we do that kind of stuff. We had maybe a 2-on-1 and a breakaway that we need to clean up. But other than that, it was unreal."
While Sweden looked good from start to finish, Austria’s problems at this level were apparent at both ends of the ice. The newly-promoted nation has found it tough among the elite and tonight it did not help itself by missing the chances that came its way. In the first period, Lukas Haudum got clear for a good look at Anders Nilsson’s net but his shot was well wide. In the second, Peter Schneider capitalised on a turnover on the red line to sprint through for a one-on-one rendezvous with the Swedish goalie. On arrival, though, he could only find Nilsson’s pads. Where Sweden was clinical, Austria was profligate.
The goalie admitted that it's not always easy to stay prepared in such a one-sided game. Sweden outshot Austria 34-14, making Nilsson's shut-out a different kind of challenge.
"It's both nice and tough at the same time in a game like this," he said. "You have to work a lot with yourself as a goalie standing back there and not seeing shots for a long time. You have stay sharp and ready mentally because you know when they get a chance it's usually a good scoring chance."
On defence, too, Austria struggled. Impressive as the Swedish offence undoubtedly was, there were too many instances where a yellow-shirted forward was allowed too much space in a dangerous position. Against opposition of this calibre, such generosity was repeatedly punished. That didn’t do much to dampen the spirits of the Austrian fans, though, with a fan resplendent in his kilt leading a conga line around the Royal Arena as the third period went on. Even when results aren’t going their way, there’s still a smile on the face of Austrian hockey supporters.
Fewer smiles in the locker room, though. Michael Raffl tried to be philosophical after a difficult evening.
"I thought Sweden was good as expected," he said. "There was not much out there for us. We had a couple of good opportunities, but didn’t manage to put the puck in the net. They were the better team for 60 minutes. That was expected to happen."
Sweden sits proudly on top of Group A with four wins from four games. Finland’s defeat against Denmark in Herning mean that only Russia can match the Swedes’ 100% record, having played one game fewer than the Scandinavians.
While Sweden's offence was writing the headlines, the team's defensive effort also won praise from goalie Anders Nilsson.
"It's always nice to stand back there and see how well the guys are performing, how well we're playing with the puck," he said. "Our power play has been great and our penalty kill has been really good. Today I think they had two power plays but they didn't get one shot on that, which a huge credit to the whole team in front of me."
There was time for another high-quality goal in the third. Janmark went behind the net and sent the puck out for Zibanejad. The New York Ranger’s first touch sold a dummy to Konstantin Komarek; with a good look at Madlener there was only once place the puck would go, and Zibanejad duly dispatched it. Paajarvi's raking long shot made it 7-0.
Paajarvi was another Swede thoroughly enjoying his evening. "Today was really a recipe of how good we are in the offensive zone," he said. "Our D-men are really good right now. They’re coming in, they’re coming out, they’re coming in again. It really creates a lot for us forwards. Everybody wants to have the puck, everybody wants to be open. We’re tough to play against when we do that kind of stuff. We had maybe a 2-on-1 and a breakaway that we need to clean up. But other than that, it was unreal."
While Sweden looked good from start to finish, Austria’s problems at this level were apparent at both ends of the ice. The newly-promoted nation has found it tough among the elite and tonight it did not help itself by missing the chances that came its way. In the first period, Lukas Haudum got clear for a good look at Anders Nilsson’s net but his shot was well wide. In the second, Peter Schneider capitalised on a turnover on the red line to sprint through for a one-on-one rendezvous with the Swedish goalie. On arrival, though, he could only find Nilsson’s pads. Where Sweden was clinical, Austria was profligate.
The goalie admitted that it's not always easy to stay prepared in such a one-sided game. Sweden outshot Austria 34-14, making Nilsson's shut-out a different kind of challenge.
"It's both nice and tough at the same time in a game like this," he said. "You have to work a lot with yourself as a goalie standing back there and not seeing shots for a long time. You have stay sharp and ready mentally because you know when they get a chance it's usually a good scoring chance."
On defence, too, Austria struggled. Impressive as the Swedish offence undoubtedly was, there were too many instances where a yellow-shirted forward was allowed too much space in a dangerous position. Against opposition of this calibre, such generosity was repeatedly punished. That didn’t do much to dampen the spirits of the Austrian fans, though, with a fan resplendent in his kilt leading a conga line around the Royal Arena as the third period went on. Even when results aren’t going their way, there’s still a smile on the face of Austrian hockey supporters.
Fewer smiles in the locker room, though. Michael Raffl tried to be philosophical after a difficult evening.
"I thought Sweden was good as expected," he said. "There was not much out there for us. We had a couple of good opportunities, but didn’t manage to put the puck in the net. They were the better team for 60 minutes. That was expected to happen."
Sweden sits proudly on top of Group A with four wins from four games. Finland’s defeat against Denmark in Herning mean that only Russia can match the Swedes’ 100% record, having played one game fewer than the Scandinavians.
Austria, meanwhile, is locked in a relegation dogfight. The point it earned from an overtime loss to Switzerland is keeping it ahead of rock-bottom Belarus and the teams’ match-up on Saturday has the feel of a win-or-bust showdown for both countries.
Sweden vs. Austria
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