Sweden vs. Ukraine

When Sweden plays a team like Ukraine you expect them to win easily. Sweden is one of the heavyweights of the hockey world and Ukraine is not really seasoned, not yet consistently successful in international play. Yet the Swedes struggled tonight. They did not play well. They did not play simple hockey. Instead they held the puck to long and waited for the perfect situation to shoot. Ukraine's goalie was brilliant as well, facing many shots and lots of pressure. The Ukrainians countered well and managed to score twice, one of them was a "seeing eye" goal where the puck found its way in as opposed to good offense, but those count. When you throw the puck at the net, it sometimes goes in, the Swedes should do more of that.

They received no cheap goals, rather they relied on talented players. Another outstanding night in goal for Henrik Lundqvist; he faced some tough odd-man rushes as the Swedish defense pinched in to try and score.

A brilliant play by Magnus Kahnberg started Sweden's scoring. He faked the Ukrainian goalie to the ice on a wraparound and then backhanded the puck in after he slid thourgh the crease. Impressive. He is a young talented star who can go far in the NHL if it ever gets going again. He also displays the kind of toughness necessary to compete against bigger players. He has speed, excellent puck handling, is a very good passer, and likes to mix it up.

But the night was saved by Daniel Alfredsson who banged the puck in from an excellent pass into the slot. That was simple hockey, a close in hard shot on the glove side that the goalie had no chance on. When the Swedes get back to playing that kind of game, look out.