2017-18 National Men's Team

CANADA BLANKED BY SWEDEN AT KARJALA CUP

JASON LA ROSE

HELSINKI, Finland – Ben Scrivens (Spruce Grove, Alta./Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL) finished with 19 saves, but Canada’s National Men’s Team ran into a red-hot Swedish goaltender in a 2-0 loss Friday in its second of three games at the 2017 Karjala Cup.

The Canadians held a 35-21 advantage in shots on goal – including 18-3 in the third period – but could not get a puck past Magnus Hellberg as their record dropped to 1-1 in the round-robin tournament.

A back-and-forth first period failed to produce a goal despite five power plays, three to Canada. The power outage continued in the second with the Swedes going goalless on a five-minute man advantage after a charging major to Mason Raymond (Cochrane, Alta./SC Bern, NLA), but they broke through late in the period.

Sweden needed only four seconds of the power play to open the scoring; Pär Lindholm got his stick on a point shot from Patrik Hersley to beat Scrivens and put the Scandinavians ahead just past the 16-minute mark.

Lindholm converted on another five-on-four for the insurance goal at 11:53 of the third, one-timing a quick feed from Oscar Moller past Scrivens.

The Canadians had six power plays in the third period, including a five-on-three for 1:45 while it was still a one-goal game, but could not find a way past Hellberg.

Canada closes out its schedule Sunday, taking on host Finland (10:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. PT).