One-timer goals were front and center in the bronze medal match between Canada and Sweden, but it was the Swedes who salvaged a medal at the World Championship.
Erik Karlsson, seen here at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, captained Sweden to a bronze medal at the 2024 IIHF men's World Championship.The two group leaders in the preliminary round of the IIHF men's World Championship ended up in the bronze medal matchup, with Sweden defeating Canada 4-2.
Team Sweden salvaged a rough 7-3 loss to Czechia in the semifinal by winning their first medal since 2018, when they captured gold in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Canadians, meanwhile, leave the World Championship without a medal also for the first time since 2018. They won gold in 2021 and 2023 and silver in 2019 and 2022. But this year, they went undefeated right up until the semifinal, when Switzerland avenged a 3-2 loss in the round-robin with a 3-2 shootout victory.
Sweden and Canada held leads in the bronze medal matchup.
Carl Grundstrom opened the scoring for Sweden midway through the first period. Rasmus Dahlin tossed the puck on net, which was redirected to Linus Johansson. He then found Grunstrom ready for the one-timer to beat Canada goaltender Jordan Binnington.
But two minutes into the second period, Dylan Cozens scored his final goal of a memorable World Championship for the Buffalo Sabres center. It was his tournament-leading ninth goal in 10 games.
That 1-1 score lasted until early in the third period, when John Tavares rushed through center ice and found Brandon Hagel at the wall entering the zone. Hagel then fired a cross-ice pass to an open Pierre-Luc Dubois, who one-timed a shot glove side on Sweden netminder Filip Gustavsson.
Dubois and Hagel were late additions to Canada's roster, along with Nick Paul, before the World Championship, sending Macklin Celebrini and Adam Fantilli home. Dubois recorded nine points in 10 games, while Hagel had seven points.
Canada looked on the way to extending the medal streak to five tournaments, but they couldn't hold down the fort.
Erik Karlsson winded up for a slapshot from the high slot. His one-timer beat Binnington clean through the five-hole to tie the game at 2-2.
Less than five minutes later, Binnington tried to clear the puck rolling toward him, but it bounced off the boards right to Grundstom. He took another one-timer and beat Binnington over the shoulder to give Sweden a 3-2 lead.
"It feels really good," Grundstrom told TSN's Lindsay Hamilton post-game. "Obviously, nice to finish off the season here with a win, so it's a great feeling."
Marcus Johansson added an empty-net goal to lock in a bronze medal for the Swedes.
Gustavsson finished with 20 saves on 22 shots for Sweden, while Binnington stopped 29 of 32 shots.
With Sweden co-hosting next year's World Championship for the first time since 2013, they'll look to improve their result even more next year.