Canada amazes Sweden with OT comeback in the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey world
Drake Batherson scored 43 seconds into overtime, which led Canada to a 4-3 comeback victory over Sweden in the quarterfinals of the World Hockey Championship on Thursday.
Ryan Graves triggered Canada’s comeback with a goal 1:21 into the third, and Pierre-Luc Dubois and Matt Barzal – who played on their 25th birthday – scored 30 seconds later in the period to force extra time.
Nylander was called to have stumbled 25 seconds into extra time and Canada were quick to take advantage of the maneuver, with Batherson sending a sharp shot in behind Swedish goalkeeper Linus Ullmark from the bottom of the matching circle.
“Obviously it was not what we planned to be 3-0 down in the third period, but we could get that goal early in the third,” said Batherson. “I was frustrated that I took a penalty, and to be honest I thought we would have a hard time coming back, but we never gave up.”
SE | Drake Batherson completes Canada’s comeback past Sweden:
Barzal and Dubois both assisted in the match-winning goal.
Chris Driedger stopped 16 of 19 shots for Canada and Ullmark made 38 saves for Sweden.
“[Ullmark] was outstanding, and he deserves much praise for his achievement. We tried not to get frustrated and instead we were determined in the third period to get pucks in the net, says the Canadian coach Claude Julien. “The first goal gave us some life, and we just tried to give ourselves opportunities to score. We felt really good with our game from the second period and the goal from Graves gained our confidence.”
Canada, the tournament’s defending champions, will face the Czechs in the semifinals on Saturday. The Czech Republic defeated Germany 4-1 in their quarter-final match.
The USA and Finland meet in the second semifinal match. The USA beat Switzerland 3-0 while Finland beat Slovakia 4-2 to finish Thursday’s quarterfinals.
The medal games will be played on Sunday.