Catching up on scouting the World Championships from the last few days brings goals, victory and crushing defeat.
On Sunday at the IIHF World Championships, Sweden played a game against the low-ranked Italians that was a chance for them to regroup and get organized after their opening-game loss to the Czechs. The result was never in doubt against Italy, but the original forward lineup didn’t survive the game.
In the early going, William Nylander was the dominant force on his line, and together with centre Elias Pettersson, they were creating a lot of chances.
It was Devils forward Jesper Bratt, Loui Eriksson and Anton Lander (now in the KHL) who also really shone, and they got the first goal.