Karlsson & Sasson Register First Wins Of The Tournament: Canucks At The 2026 World Championship

Two members of the Vancouver Canucks played on Day 3 of the 2026 IIHF World Championship. Despite both dropping their first games of the tournament, Linus Karlsson and Sweden, and Max Sasson and Team USA, managed to collect their first wins of the competition to increase their respective positions in the standings. Here is a recap of the Canucks’ performances at the 2026 IIHF World Championship on May 17. 

After their surprising defeat at the hands of Switzerland on Friday, Sasson and Team USA managed to put five past Great Britain in order to claim their first win of the tournament today. The influx of offence came during the third period for the U.S., with Mathieu Olivier and Declan Carlile adding to Paul Cotter and Isaac Howard’s tallies. Howard also scored his second of the game to put Team USA up 5–1. 

Team USA shuffled their lines up a little more in today’s game, moving opening goal-scorer Cotter onto the third line with Sasson and Olivier. The move proved to have paid off, as it was Sasson’s line that opened the scoring today thanks to Cotter tapping in a shot initially fired by the Canucks forward. With his assist on Cotter’s goal, Sasson recorded his first point of the tournament and first-career point at the IIHF World Championship. 

Like the U.S., Sweden also came into today’s competition looking for their first win, having lost 5–3 to Canada on Friday. In today’s win, former Canucks defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson found the back of the net, Karlsson nabbed his first goal of the tournament, and Viggo Björck set Sweden’s new record for the youngest player (18 years, 67 days) to score a goal at the IIHF World Championship. 

Karlsson scored Sweden’s final goal in today’s effort, sliding a shot off the skate of one of Denmark’s defencemen to score his first of the tournament. The forward remained on the line he first started the competition with, alongside Jacob de la Rose and Simon Holström, and finished today’s game with 14:22 minutes played.  

Group A: 

Austria: 2–0–0–0

Finland: 2–0–0–0

Switzerland: 2–0–0–0

USA: 1–0–0–1

Latvia: 1–0–0–1

Germany: 0–0–0–2

Hungary: 0–0–0–2

Great Britain: 0–0–0–2

Group B: 

Canada: 2–0–0–0

Slovakia: 2–0–0–0

Czechia: 1–0–1–0

Norway: 1–0–0–1

Sweden: 1–0–0–1

Slovenia: 0–1–0–0

Denmark: 0–0–0–2

Italy: 0–0–0–2

Finland vs. USA - 7:20 am PT

Sweden vs. Czechia - 11:20 am PT 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

Latest From THN’s Vancouver Canucks Site:

Canucks President Of Hockey Operations Daniel Sedin Is In Switzerland Scouting At The 2026 World Championship

Reflecting On The Abbotsford Canucks' 2025-26 Season

Vancouver Canucks 2026 NHL Draft Target: Liam Ruck

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.