2018 IIHF World Junior Championship

CANADA SCORES FOUR IN THIRD, BEATS SWEDEN AT JUNIOR SHOWCASE

JASON LA ROSE

PLYMOUTH, Mich. – Jordan Kyrou (Toronto, Ont./Sarnia, OHL) scored twice, including the game-winning goal on a five-on-three power play in the third period, and Canada came back to top Sweden 7-4 on Friday afternoon as part of Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Summer Development Camp.

Down 4-3 with just over 15 minutes to go, the Canadians scored three times in less than 10 minutes to turn a deficit into a lead before an empty-net goal closed out the scoring.

It was the Swedes who struck first just shy of the 12-minute mark of the first period; Timothy Liljegren got his point shot through traffic and past a screened Michael DiPietro (Amherstburg, Ont./Windsor, OHL) for a 1-0 lead.

Sam Steel (Sherwood Park, Alta./Regina, WHL) answered back for Canada at 17:41 of the opening frame, taking a no-look pass from Mason Shaw (Wainwright, Alta./Medicine Hat, WHL) and tapping in the 1-1 goal.

The Canadians jumped out to an early two-goal lead in the second period thanks to a pair of quick strikes.

Kyrou was first at 2:43, driving hard to the net and tucking his first of the game around Swedish goaltender Filip Gustavsson, and Jonathan Ang (Markham, Ont./Peterborough, OHL) wired a wrist shot just under the crossbar at 4:24 to put Canada up by a pair.

Sweden got within one on a Lias Andersson redirection on the power play, and pulled even on an unassisted effort by Axel Jonsson Fjallby just past the 12-minute mark of the second.

The Jonsson Fjallby goal was the first shot faced by Carter Hart (Sherwood Park, Alta./Everett, WHL), who had taken over goaltending duties from DiPietro just seconds earlier. DiPietro finished with 14 saves in almost 32 minutes of work.

Fredrick Karlstrom gave Sweden the lead two minutes into the third period, tapping in a loose puck after Jesper Bratt hit the post on a breakaway, but it was all Canada after that.

Cale Makar (Calgary, Alta./Brooks, AJHL) tied the game at 4:23, jumping in off the blue-line and snapping a one-timer past Gustavsson off a feed from Steel, and Kyrou knocked in a back-door pass from Victor Mete (Woodbridge, Ont./London, OHL) to put the Canadians up for good midway through the final stanza.

Logan Stanley (Waterloo, Ont./Windsor, OHL) gave Canada a little bit of insurance at 14:23, beating Gustavsson with an absolute rocket off a turnover in the Swedish zone, and Matthew Phillips (Calgary, Alta./Victoria, WHL) hit the empty net with five seconds left to provide the final margin of victory.

Canada closes out the World Junior Summer Showcase on Saturday night, facing off against the United States (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT).