Victor Stjernborg scored a short-handed goal with 65 seconds remaining and Sweden defeated rival Finland 3-2 in quarterfinal action Monday at the world junior hockey championship.
Finland took a 2-1 lead in the third period when Niko Huuhtanen scored just over four minutes into the final frame.
Pressing for a an equalizer, Sweden tied the score when Leo Carlsson scored his second of the game with less than four minutes remaining.
Finland had an opportunity to regain the lead when Sweden’s Fabian Lysell was penalized for high-sticking with under two minutes to go in regulation. But instead Stjernborg won the puck at centre ice after a Swedish clear, then skated in alone and beat Finnish goaltender Jani Lampinen for the winning goal.
In Monday’s other quarterfinals, Czechia downed Switzerland 9-1, the United States routed Germany 11-1 and defending-champion Canada defeated Slovakia 4-3 in a thrilling overtime.
The Canadian victory sets up a semifinal showdown with the United States on Wednesday, while Czechia will face Sweden.
Elsewhere, Latvia defeated Austria 5-2 in the opening game of a best-of-three relegation series.
Oliver Kapanen had the other goal for Finland.
Carl Lindbom made 33 saves for Sweden, while Lampinen stopped 17 shots for Finland.
UNITED STATES 11, GERMANY 1
MONCTON — Logan Cooley had three goals and an assist and Ryan Ufko set up five goals to lead the Americans into the semifinals.
Red Savage and Cutter Gauthier added two goals apiece for the U.S., which outshot Germany 41-22.
Jimmy Snuggerud, Blake Jackson, Kenny Connors and Dylan Duke rounded out the scoring for the U.S.
Luka Hauf scored a late goal for Germany.
CZECHIA 9, SWITZERLAND 1
HALIFAX — Jiri Kulich had two goals and two assists in Czechia’s rout of Switzerland.
Marcel Marcel had two goals and assist while Gabriel Szturc also scored twice.
Petr Hauser, David Jiricek and Eduard Sale also scored for the Czechs, who rattled off nine straight goals after Switzerland’s Louis Robin opened the scoring 22 seconds into the game.
Czechia, the top-ranked team in the quarterfinals after finishing the preliminary round with a tournament-high 10 points, outshot the Swiss 28-18.
LATVIA 5, AUSTRIA 2
HALIFAX — Emils Veckaktins scored twice and Bogdans Hodass had a goal and two assists as Latvia moved a step toward remaining among the top-level world junior teams.
Dans Locmelis and Sandis Vilmanis also scored for Latvia, which outshot Austria 46-13.
Luca Auer and Vinzenz Rohrer scored for Austria.
The teams meet again Wednesday. The winner of the regulation series will appear at next year’s world juniors in Goteborg, Sweden, while the loser will be relegated to Division I Group A.
