Sweden ended Canada's bid for a third straight gold medal in dramatic fashion.
Sure, it was a shootout finish at LANXESS Arena in Cologne, but that's immaterial to the Swedes, who went toe-to-toe with Canada throughout a tightly-contested gold medal game. Nicklas Backstrom (Washington) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Arizona) scored goals in the best-of-five shootout for Sweden while Henrik Lundqvist (NY Rangers) was a perfect 4-for-4 between the pipes, locking down a 2-1 win for his country.
Blue Jackets center William Karlsson captured his first IIHF Worlds gold medal and saw plenty of ice time on Sweden's depth lines throughout the tournament. He played 17:03 in the gold medal game and had two shots on goal, helping Sweden to its first Worlds championship since 2013.
The Swedes, as they have been known to do, celebrated in style after the final horn:
NYLANDER FROM THE TOP RUNG pic.twitter.com/oN6sQKEk8W
— The Leafs Nation (@TLNdc) May 21, 2017
Sweden struck first late in the second period on a fluky shorthanded goal from Tampa's Victor Hedman, who backhanded a bouncing puck into the Canadian net for a 1-0 lead. Ryan O'Reilly broke through and finally beat Lundqvist midway through the third period on the power play to pull the Canadians into a 1-1 tie.
After a scoreless 20-minute overtime period, the game moved on to the shootout where Lundqvist slammed the door for Sweden.
