The only Toronto Maple Leafs’ player to take part in the 2023 IIHF Worlds, Liljegren scored Sweden’s only goal in the stunning loss.
Timothy Liljegren's first-ever run at the 2023 IIHF World Hockey Championship is over as Sweden suffered a surprising upset loss to Latvia in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Despite Sweden's strong performance throughout the tournament, finishing just two points behind the USA in Group A with a record of 5-1-1-0, they were unable to overcome Latvia's challenge.
Latvia took an early lead, putting pressure on Sweden. Liljegren scored Sweden's equalizing goal at 29:41.
The score remained tied until Latvia's Miks Indrasis and Janis Jaks scored in the third period, securing the victory for their team.
Liljegren had a good tournament. The Toronto Maple Leafs’ defenseman had two goals and two assists with an average ice time of 18:38. Unfortunately, his regular defensive partner, Rasmus Sandin, was sidelined due to a knee injury sustained against the USA in the round-robin stage.
Initially, it was thought that Liljegren's teammate, William Nylander, would join him on Team Sweden. It was later reported by TSN's Chris Johnston that Nylander elected not to participate with the risk of pushing someone else off the team so late in the tournament.
Perhaps Nylander's involvement could have helped Sweden avoid the upset.
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