2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship – Game Three

The toughest match-up on paper proved to be the case on ice.

The sheer statistics of a Swedish roster missing some North American players told the story.

NHL: 3,328 GP
WC: 176 GP
OG: 53 GP
SHL: 3,361 GP
HockeyAllsvenskan: 839 GP
Liiga: 38 GP
KHL: 355 GP
AHL: 1,762 GP

Great Britain fell behind early and could never get going during the first period of a game that went away from them in a hurry.

“In the first period we probably weren’t engaged enough and it showed on the first shift.”
“In the second and third [periods] I thought we battled a little more and that was reflected on the scoreboard.” – Adam Keefe

First Period

Sweden scored right from the opening face-off.
Rasmus Dahlin’s shot was tipped in front by Joel Kellman and Ramus Asplund swept home the rebound with just thirteen seconds played.

Great Britain created one chance to level the score.
Robert Dowd seized on a rebound in the left circle but his effort brought a fine left pad save from Magnus Hellberg.

Sweden doubled their lead inside eight minutes.
Bowns was left a little hung out to dry again as he stopped Adam Larsson’s point shot but could not prevent Joakim Nordstrom from slotting in the rebound.

At the restart of play, GB had another chance. Sam Duggan could only watch as his shot agonisingly went just high with Hellberg beaten.

An ill-advised pinch from Josh Batch allowed Sweden to net a third at the midway mark.
An odd-man rush ensued and as the trailer on the play, Anton Bengtsson beat Bowns with a rocket of a shot from the high slot.

The fourth goal was unfortunate but allowing Ramus Dahlin space is going to hurt you eventually. Dahlin’s shot took a wicked deflection off the stick of Dowd, completely fooling Bowns who was left helpless with the puck having completely changed direction.

GB’s best shift of the period arrived with five minutes remaining. It resulted in chances for Brett Perlini and Scott Conway but neither could find the twine.

Sweden finished the period as they started by striking with seconds remaining.
Asplund netted his second of the game, a tap-in rebound on the power play to give Tre Kronor a 5-0 lead.

Second Period

There was little to be gained from allowing Ben Bowns to remain in net and Jackson Whistle was rightly given the nod to take over in the second period.

The Belfast Giants netminder settled in nicely, making three key saves and a couple more on the penalty kill as Sweden wasn’t allowed to extend their already huge advantage.

Great Britain had established itself in the second period and began to cause Sweden problems.
Matthew Myers will look back at this game and wonder how he didn’t score at least once.

At even strength, GB created a partial breakaway but Myers’ effort was turned aside.

Consecutive penalties were then drawn, and the lower seeds went incredibly close to getting on the board. From in tight, Myers flicked a backhand shot that Hellberg got the smallest piece of, sending the puck against the underside of the bar but frustratingly bouncing out the wrong side.

Late in the frame, Myers was left frustrated again as he couldn’t get enough on his shot after winning the battle to a loose puck in the crease during an intense scramble in front of Hellberg.

Third Period

Whistle continued to shine in the third period.
A glove save to deny Anton Bengtsson’s one-timer was likely his best of the game.

Great Britain would generate two chances of note in the third period.

The first was an individual effort from Cade Neilson. The 21-year-old drove down the left wing and then cut across the zone and crease before sending a backhand shot just wide of the target.

Hellberg was hell-bent on posting a shutout. Lewis Hook would bear the brunt of that.
Hook looked set to score after making a nice move, but the Swedish netminder stretched back to make a tremendous left pad save to rob the GB forward.

In between times, Bengtsson netted his second of the game on an odd-man rush to give Sweden a 6-0 victory.

GB Player of the Game: Jackson Whistle

Post Game Notes

Despite the lopsided nature of the scoreline, there were some positive aspects to take from this game.

The first is that Great Britain fought hard in the final forty minutes and created scoring chances. Hellberg is a monster of a goaltender, hugely experienced and played in the top leagues in the world. GB still managed to test him fully.

The hope is that Jackson Whistle won’t have to be relied on again in this tournament, but he performed admirably against a top nation. Whistle stopped 18 of nineteen shots and looked as good as I’ve seen him in limited international minutes. His play was a positive note.

Evan Mosey continues to shine as a forward, and I thought he was the best of the bunch through all three zones. Mosey won his 20th cap in this game.

The fourth line in whatever form (Lachowicz – Myers – Hook -Duggan) it took had some notable shifts, and Myers looked inspired at times. More of that would be great moving forward in the tournament.

It was a rough game for the defensemen, especially in the first period.
Ben O’Connor has looked out of sorts so far and Josh Batch had a particularly rough outing in this game. It shall be interesting to see whether Sam Jones receives a look this week.

Brett Perlini and Jackson Whistle both earned their 25th caps whilst Robert Dowd reached the 75 cap milestone.

Line Up

Perlini – Conway – Mosey
Lake – Neilson – Dowd
Waller – Davies – J.Phillips
Lachowicz – Myers – Hook
Duggan

Tetlow – Richardson
O’Connor – D.Phillips
Ehrhardt – Clements
Batch

Bowns/Whistle

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