TAMPERE, Finland – 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.

Sweden jumped to a 3-0 lead in the middle of the second period with goals from Carl Klingberg, William Nylander and Max Friberg.

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.”

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 a lot of praise for his performance. We tried not to get frustrated and instead we were determined in the third period to get pucks into the net,” says Canadian coach Claude Julien. “The first goal gave us some life, and we were just trying to give ourselves opportunities to score goals. We felt really good with our game from the second period and the goal from Graves boosted our confidence. ”

Canada, the tournament’s defending champions, will face the Czechs in the semifinals on Saturday.

The USA and Finland meet in the second semifinal match.

The medal games will be played on Sunday.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 26, 2022.

Canadian Press