Team Canada Golden With Convincing Win Over Sweden

In a game that was never really in doubt, Team Canada thoroughly outplayed Team Sweden and as a result became the first team in the NHL era of the Olympics to win back to back Gold Medals.

PHOTO CREDIT: USA TODAY SPORTS

Canada scored once in each period, with Jonathan Toews breaking the ice in the first on a nice tip-in off a centering pass from Jeff Carter.  Sidney Crosby scored his first of the Olympics, stealing the puck at his own blue line and making a deke around Henrik Lundqvist on a breakaway to double the score and then Chris Kunitz put the final nail in the coffin of the Swedes with a steal from Daniel Sedin right at the Sweden blue line and firing a rocket over Lundqvist’s shoulder into the top shelf.

Carey Price did the rest, stopping 24 shots in all.  He was aided by the team in front of him who, despite having the lead, continued to forecheck and press in the Sweden zone, limiting them to 4 third period shots on goal.

Already without Henrik Zetterberg and Henrik Sedin up the middle, the Swedes were dealt a blow when Nicklas Backstrom missed the game with a migraine headache.  They would get no sympaty as Canada was without Steven Stamkos and John Tavares on their own side.   Sweden played all 8 defensemen in their lineup, and Erik Karlsson played only 19 minutes as a result.

The win capped a near perfect tournament for Canada, who got better with every game, but the final was a bit of a letdown after the intensity of the semi-final against the US. As I expected, Sweden just didn’t have the horses to keep up with Canada if they came with the same intensity and attention to detail, and no matter how good Lundqvist was it wasn’t going to be enough.