COLOGNE, Germany – Sweden won the ice hockey world championship with a 2-1 victory on penalties over two-time defending champion Canada on Sunday.
Sweden goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped all four penalties as Nicklas Backstrom and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored shootout goals for the Swedes to win their first title since 2013.
The game ended 1-1 after overtime.
Lundqvist and Canada counterpart Calvin Pickard, who saved William Nylander’s first penalty for Sweden, were outstanding in a game in which the Canadians narrowly outshot their opponents by 43-42.
The breakthrough came against the odds, with Backstrom penalized for slashing, when Victor Hedman scored short-handed with 20.8 seconds left in the second period.
Ryan O’Reilly equalized when he scrambled the puck in off a rebound from Mitch Marner.
Nate MacKinnon missed a good chance to clinch the win for Canada on a power play before overtime.
The U.S. was eliminated by Finland in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
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