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Sweden gets a scare
Germany comes close, Moller shines in 4-3 win
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - MAY 7: Germany's Timo Pielmeier #51 makes t the save against Sweden's Joel Lundqvist #20 while Patrick Reimer #37 tries to defend during preliminary round action at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/HHOF-IIHF Images)
More impressive, Moller accrued his four points in only 15:22 of ice time.
"I’ve never played with him before, but just watching him play in the Swedish League and now in the KHL, he’s working really hard," said Swedish teammate Filip Forsberg. "He shoots the puck a lot. That’s how he scores goals, and it’s awesome to have him on our team."
With the win Sweden moves into sole possession of second place with 11 points, one behind Canada and three ahead of Switzerland, although both those nations have played one game fewer.
"I think the Germans played really well," acknowledged Joakim Lindstrom. "They played tight defensively and didn’t give us a whole lot of opportunities. We’re happy with the win tonight."
Germany remains tied with France in fifth place with three points and plays a critical game against Latvia tomorrow. Latvia is only a point behind. Sweden has a day off before facing Switzerland on Saturday.
"I think it was our best game by far," said German forward Michael Wolf. "We did everything we could try to beat them. It was a pretty good team effort and we had enough chances to win this game. I think we deserved more than a 4-3 loss, but what can you do? Nothing. Now we have to look forward and tomorrow is Latvia."
The first period was, if nothing else, eventful, at least in the second half. A tepid game was held up at the 10:30 mark when the Plexiglas in the corner became dislodged. Players went to the dressing room for more than 20 minutes while arena staff fixed the problem.
Continue readingWhen the game re-started, the fun began. Moller opened the scoring at 11:19 when he tucked in a rebound off a Joakim Lindstrom shot from far out that Pielmeier couldn’t handle.
A minute and a half later, the Swedes made it 2-0 when Lindstrom’s unexpected shot fooled the goaltender.
But the Germans persevered and got one goal back on a power play. Tobias Rieder’s shot was stopped by Jhonas Enroth’s glove, but he couldn’t hold it and Marcus Kink knocked in the rebound.
Then, with 4.2 seconds left in the period, some fireworks. Mattias Ekholm made a pass at the Germany blue line to a teammate and then watched the puck in motion. Stephan Daschsner drilled him with a hard hit that stunned Ekholm, and the force of the blow jammed his visor into his cheek, cutting him. Dachsner was given a major penalty and game misconduct.
Ekholm was back to start the second period, and the Germans did a masterful job of killing off the five-minute penalty. They then went to work, playing suffocating defence and also counter-attacking with effect.
Midway through the period, they were rewarded off a great solo effort by Nicolas Krammer. First, he blocked a point shot by John Klingberg just inside the Germany blue line, and then he raced down the ice all the while being hounded by the Swede. Krammer drove hard to the goal, made a move to his backhand, and roofed a shot over Enroth’s glove to tie the game at 9:30.
The Germans had the better of play the rest of the period and were unlucky not to take the lead.
In the third, Sweden came out the way everyone knows it can. Staffan Kronwall's point shot was deftly tipped by Klingberg at 2:56 to make it a 3-2 game for Tre Kronor.
Moller got his second off the night walking out from the corner and beating Pielmeier to the short side at 8:45. But the Germans would not concede the game. They went on the attack and drew a two-man advantage. Although they didn't score on this chance, they did soon after.
Matthias Plachta got the puck in the slot, stickhandled around a sprawling Filip Forsberg, and drilled a shot past Enroth at 14:39.
That was as close as they could get.
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