The atmosphere was fitting of a Gold Medal Game on Friday in Gotherburg, with the majority of fans in the crowd wearing their golden jerseys and chanting from the drop of the puck.
The Americans did well to play through the start by Sweden spurred on by the home crowd, and began to get some shots of their own. The chant momentarily relented, but picked right back up as Sweden got two point-blank chances that American goaltender Trey Augustine needed to be at his best to turn aside.
Sweden received a power play following a high stick by Drew Fortescue. They were unable to do anything with it thanks to a good kill from the Americans.
Late in the period, in nearly the same spot on the ice, a high-sticking call was pending on Sweden. The United States didn’t need the penalty to start to open the scoring, taking advantage of an extra skater with goalie pulled to open the scoring . Gabe Perreault scored on a pass from Will Smith on Team USA’s ninth shot of the contest with three minutes left on the clock.
The USA held the edge in play to end the period, but couldn’t extend the lead further.
Starting the second period the same way they began the first, the Swedes were able to make the pressure count this time. Otto Stenberg capitalized on a long cycling shift to tie the game at one with a tip of Mattias Havelid’s point shot.
The tie lasted about seven minutes before a pass up the boards by Fortescue got all the way to Isaac Howard at the Swedish blue line. Howard had a step on the defender, and was able to slip it past Hugo Havelid on the backhand for the 2-1 goal.
The Swedes continues with their strategy of wearing down the Americans in their own zone, and earned a few chances shortly after the Howard goal. But it was a shift in the offensive zone for the Americans that led to the game’s next goal, and it was Howard again, throwing a puck to the crease that went off the foot of Sweden’s goaltender and in.
As they made the announcement of one minute to play in the period, Seamus Casey was called for tripping as his man gained a step on him. With five second left in the frame, Jonathan Lekkerimäki fired a shot from the left circle that beat Augustine far-side, sending his team into the intermission down by just a goal.
With Sweden hoping to start the third period with a goal to tie things up, they instead saw the American lead restored to two goals. Zeev Buium took a somewhat harmless-looking shot from the point that beat Havelid under his blocker as the goaltender was unable to follow the play.
The officials missed a high stick on Lane Hutson in the run of play, but went back to look at it once the play had ended. They determined Noah Östlund hadn’t touched the puck on the swing of his stick, and a four-minute minor was assessed.
The Swedes put in a great effort to kill off the double-minor, leaving nine minutes for them to find the two goals they needed to tie things up.
With 3:48 to play, the hopes of the home team were all but dashed by Ryan Leonard as he beat two defenders on a one-on-two to make it a 5-2 game.
An empty-net goal from captain Rutger McGroarty sealed the win, and a gold medal, for Team USA. Sweden, once again, had to settle for silver.
