In what was the game of the tournament so far, Team Canada scored three second-period goals and then held off a furious Swedish effort in the third to edge Team Sweden, 3-2. Joey Nieuwendyk led the way for Canada, posting a goal and two assists. Rob Blake and Al MacInnis had the other Canadian goals, while Nicklas Lidstrom and Mats Sundin did the honors for Sweden. Patrick Roy was sharp in net for Canada, stopping 27 shots.

Sweden got on the board first when Lidstrom scored on the power play at 15:27 of the opening frame. Daniel Alfredsson and Mikael Renberg drew the assists. It was the only goal of the period, which saw Canada outshoot Sweden by a slim 8-7 margin.

The second period was a completely different story. The Canadians emerged as mission men. They carried the play to the Swedes and began to punish them physically. The checking onslaught put Sweden on its heels. Canada was soon in total control of the game's flow and knotted the score on a four-on- four situation at 11:56. With Nieuwendyk positioned at the near- side post, Blake dropped the hammer on a low drive from the right point. The shot was going wide until Nieuwendyk masterfully deflected it behind Tommy Salo for his first goal of the tournament. Lemme tell ya, Joey's tricky like that.

Canada took the lead at 17:02. The Canadians were at the tail end of a power play when Nieuwendyk won a faceoff in the left wing circle back to MacInnis at the left point. The Mac Daddy wound up for the big shot, but pulled his stick down when traffic clogged up his lane. He calmly began to glide into a clearing in the middle and reloaded. This drew Salo way out of his net to cut down the angle. MacInnis had his head up the whole way and noticed that Salo was a bit too aggressive, so he once again pulled his stick down and continued skating all the way to the faceoff dot in the right circle before snapping a drive past the swimming Salo. It was a great individual effort from MacInnis.

At this point, Sweden was in survival mode. They just wanted to make it out of the period alive. They almost did. But with less than 10 seconds left on the clock, the game's deciding goal was scored. The play was overloaded on the left side of the ice as Nieuwendyk carried the puck through center. Realizing that time was running out and there would be little chance of a counterattack, Blake seized the opportunity to make a mad dash up the right side of the ice. Nieuwendyk spotted him and gave him a tremendous lead pass into the Swedish zone. Blake had a step wide on Ulf Samuelsson and drove to the net. He made it to the bottom of the circle before he fired a shot between Salo's pads to put Canada ahead 3-1 at 19:53. Aw, those late goals will kill you.

The Swedes could have easily folded in the third. Not only did they have their spirits crushed by the late goal, but Canada had dominated the second period, outshooting Sweden 18-6. It didn't look good.

Yet the Swedes didn't fold. Oh no. LCS Hockey doesn't back quitters. We picked the Swedes to win Gold for a reason. Just as Canada controlled the middle stanza with its power, Sweden came out in the third and dictated tempo with its speed and passing. The Swedes were a yellow blur, darting around Canadian defenders and testing Roy on numerous occasions. Now it was Canada that was trying to survive.

The Swedes got within a goal at 9:34 of the third. The clubs were skating four aside when the Canadians got confused in their coverage. Adam Foote and Chris Pronger were back on defense as Mattias Norstrom led the Swedish charge with Alfredsson on the left and Mats Sundin on the right. Eric Lindros had just jumped on the ice and was heading towards Sundin as the players crossed the Canadian stripe. But when Norstrom pulled up just inside the line, Lindros thought Pronger would pick up Sundin and peeled off to pressure the Los Angeles defenseman. Well, Pronger sort of thought Lindros was going to stay with Sundin and got caught looking at Norstrom. Foote didn't help matters by stumbling a bit while skating backwards. Put it all together and all three Canadians were looking at Norstrom as Sundin and Alfredsson were given free passage to the net.

Norstrom made a sweet saucer pass down low to his now wide-open teammates to create a two-on-none. The puck was bouncing like a peanut, with both Alfredsson and Sundin trying to find the handle. Just when it looked like Alfredsson would snap the puck on his forehand, Sundin used his long reach to stretch and flip a backhander past Roy's right pad. It's kind of tough to make a save when you don't know who's shooting the puck.

The Swedes fed off the goal and continued to pressure the Canadians. Sweden almost got the equalizer a few moments later on a rush when Niklas Sundstrom relayed a tic-tac-toe play to Calle Johansson pinching free down the slot. Johansson took the pass on his backhand and tried to turn it over to his forehand, but had the puck slip off his blade and wide of the left post.

The last few minutes of regulation saw the line of Michael Nylander, Tomas Sandstrom, and Ulf Dahlen give Canada fits. Nylander was dazzling with the puck, controlling it with ease inside the Canadian zone. On one occasion he even held off Keith Primeau as he waltzed out from behind the net and eventually found Sandstrom standing all alone in the slot. Roy was in perfect position, as usual, and absorbed Sandstrom's drive in the belly without yielding a rebound.

The line would get another glorious chance a few moments later when Sandstrom circled behind the net left to right and centered a pass to Dahlen unchecked at the lip of the goal crease. Dahlen redirected a shot that was ticketed for the bottom left corner until the knob of Roy's goal stick got in the way. That's how close the Swedes came to tying it.

Sweden continued to blitz the Canadian net until the final horn sounded. Mikael Renberg had the last great chance, circling out of the right corner and wristing a shot low that Roy went butterfly to block with his right pad.

In a surprising move, Swedish coach Kent Forsberg decided not to pull Salo for an extra-attacker as time was running down. Sweden was playing so well that an extra skater could have meant the tying goal. But Forsberg didn't want to risk giving up a meaningless empty-netter when goal-differential could decide the top seed in Group A. And if Canada loses to the United States, and Sweden beats Belarus, goal-differential will indeed decide the top spot. Right or wrong, Forsberg played it safe.

Impressive Performances

CANADA

Joey Nieuwendyk (1-2-3): Lemme tell ya, Joey had a great game. He's always been one of the best in the world in front of the net, and he proved it once again with that pimp smooth deflection. Lemme tell ya, he was also strong on faceoffs. Lemme tell ya.

Rob Blake (1-1-2): Blake's goal at the end of the second was the turning point in the game. Late goals are killers. And Blake created the play by charging late up the right side. He knew there wasn't much time left for the Swedes to counter, so he rolled the bones and pinched. His gamble caught the Swedes by surprise and turned the game in Canada's favor.

Al MacInnis (1-0-1): The Big Daddy Mac's goal was bad. You just don't see two fake shots on one play all that often. MacInnis pulled it off in style.

Theo Fleury (0-1-1): The little fella played with his usual pep and enthusiasm. He also caught Peter Forsberg with his head down in the third. It's always fun to watch Fleury belt people.

SWEDEN

Nicklas Lidstrom (1-1-2): It was another sterling defensive effort for Lidstrom.

Michael Nylander: Nylander was dominant in the final few minutes of the game. His magical stickhandling helped set up two different chances late. He was just roamin' all over the Canadian zone with the puck.

Lines

Canada: Wayne Gretzky was the extra forward up front. He played the power play and was given the occasional shift at even- strength, skating with Steve Yzerman and Keith Primeau.

On defense, Eric Desjardins and MacInnis took turns skating with Scott Stevens.

OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)

Brind'Amour - Lindros - Corson
Shanahan - Sakic - Recchi
Primeau - Yzerman - Linden
Zamuner - Nieuwendyk - Fleury
Gretzky

DEFENSE

Bourque - Blake
Pronger - Foote
Stevens - MacInnis
Desjardins

POWER PLAY

Shanahan - Nieuwendyk - Gretzky - Sakic - MacInnis
Brind'Amour - Lindros - Corson - Bourque - Blake

Sweden: The Swedes kept their lines true to form. Tomas Sandstrom saw plenty of time with Nylander on the third line, rotating in and out with wingers Patric Kjellberg and Ulf Dahlen.

Tommy Albelin may have been injured in the third. Marcus Ragnarsson started skating a regular shift with Calle Johansson in Albelin's place.

OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)

Alfredsson - Forsberg - Renberg
Sundstrom - Sundin - Andersson
Kjellberg - Nylander - Dahlen
A. Johansson - Lindgren - Sandstrom

DEFENSE

Norstrom - Lidstrom
Albelin - C. Johansson
Ohlund - Samuelsson
Ragnarsson

POWER PLAY

Alfredsson - Forsberg - Sundstrom - Sundin - Lidstrom
Dahlen - Nylander - Renberg - Ohlund - C. Johansson
note: Sundin played the left point on the first unit.

SHORT-HANDED

Alfredsson - Sundin - Norstrom - Lidstrom
Forsberg - Sundstrom - C. Johansson - Samuelsson

Upcoming Games

Canada closes out the round robin against the United States on Sunday. Sweden will finish with Belarus. First place in Group A is still up for grabs. If Canada beats the US, then they're the top seed. But if Canada loses, and Sweden beats Belarus, first place would get all confused. That would mean Canada, Sweden and the US would all have 2-1-0 records. So the top spot would be determined by goal-differential.

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