Sweden was on the losing side of an overtime for the second consecutive game in the NHL‘s Four Nations Face-Off, as they fell 4-3 to Finland. The ‘Tre Kronor’ has its back against the wall as they gear up for a do-or-die matchup against the USA. Following the defeat to their neighboring country, Sweden star Erik Karlsson voiced a very frustrated comment to his teammates.
Sweden will enter Monday’s matchup against Team USA knowing what it’ll take for them to make the Championship Game. While the Americans have clinched their spot in the decisive game, the three remaining teams are tied with 2 points apiece, though Sweden is the only team to remain winless through two games.
The ‘elongated country,’ as Swedes refer to their homeland, must defeat the Americans, who may take a cautious approach to keep their roster intact for the game that truly matters. However, that doesn’t mean Team USA will be an easy challenge for Sweden. Erik Karlsson has made it clear—they must clean up their game if they want to stay alive.
“I don’t think that we reached the standards that we have set on ourselves in that room,” defenseman Erik Karlsson admitted, via NHL.com. “Finland played a great game. They capitalized on a lot of loose pucks and created a lot of offense through their transition, and when they got their opportunities, they scored some goals. Good for them.
“Overall, though, I don’t think that we’re too satisfied with the way that we went through the 60-plus minutes.“
Sincere admission
Not many gave Finland a shot after their defensemen corps was severely hampered with the injuries to Miro Heiskanen, Jani Hakanpaa, and Rasmus Ristolainen. Regardless, the Suomi team has stayed together and bounced back following the blowout loss to the USA.
“We didn’t come out and play the way that we expected out of ourselves. Whether we’re better or not than them on paper doesn’t really matter,” Karlsson stated. “I feel like we had a very high intensity, emotional game on Wednesday, and it was maybe a little bit settled down today right from the start.
“Maybe we fooled ourselves a little bit there. But again, it’s all on us to be better than that, I think, and we just didn’t reach the standard that we have on ourselves throughout the game today.”
Crucial hours
Canada and Finland will face off on Monday at 1p.m. ET, which means Sweden will hit the ice at TD Garden later during the night, well aware of what result they need to move on to the final stage. However, the confidence in the locker room has been clearly affected by the consecutive overtime losses.
“It’s not great,” William Nylander commented about Sweden’s chances of winning the tournament, as reported by NHL.com. “We have two overtime losses in two games so, I mean, just better regroup here and play the game against (the U.S.), go win and hopefully the scores go our way.”