Patric Blomdahl opened the scoring and it looked like Austria would run into trouble early on. However, they managed to slow down the tempo and limit Sweden’s offensive play. Goaltender Mathias Lange played another excellent game and prevented any further scoring.
Austria had its chances to start off the second period. A seven minute interval in the second period saw the Austrians miss several great chances to tie the game. Sweden looked like they had allowed the game to become much more difficult than it needed to be.
The third period resulted in a blowout as Sweden took control and left Austria behind. Defenseman Johan Fransson scored twice to make it 7-0. Two games in two days to start the tournament looked a little too much for the Austrians who were visibly tired in the third period. Only Lange’s great saves prevented more goals.
Austria came close to scoring their first goal of the tourney, but lady luck wasn’t on their side as they had two good chances ending up hitting the posts. Alexander Steen could have scored a hat trick, hitting the post twice from breakaways.
- I had a bunch of chances, but today wasn’t my day. I should have finished them, but hopefully I saved them for tomorrow, star player Alexander Steen commented.
- The third period was pretty much what we wanted. It was important to get a good start and tomorrow’s game against Russia will be tougher. It will much more up-tempo and hopefully our guys will be on fire then, Steen continued.
Austria was much better today than against the US yesterday. A little more luck in the second period and a draw wouldn’t have been out of the question. Offensive chances were few and far between otherwise.
- We were well in the game after two periods - down only 2-0. We had three or four super chances. Sweden was the much better team and we got tired after 50 minutes, giving them the chance to score more, Austrian coach Herbert Pöck commented.
Swedish star Alexander Steen was the best player on the ice and could have scored a bunch of goals with better luck. Linemate Robert Nilsson showed glimpses of great play, but wasn’t on par with Steen. Goalie Joakim Lundström wasn’t tested that often, but earned his shutout with convincing saves.
Defensemen Henrik Blomqvist and Tobias Enström saw lots of ice time and played well. Enström’s great skating eluded the Austrians and Blomqvist’s hard hits kept them on their toes. Head coach Tommy Bendelin singled out Steen, Lundström and forward Johannes Salomonsson for extra praise.
- Everything is ok, I’m satisfied with our seven goals. Austria was succesful in slowing down the tempo and I was disappointed with our second period, Bendelin commented.
