MONCTON, New Brunswick (AP) — Victor Stjernborg scored a short-handed goal with 65 seconds remaining and Sweden defeated rival Finland 3-2 in the quarterfinal round Monday at the world junior hockey championship.
Finland took a 2-1 lead in the third period when Niko Huuhtanen scored just over four minutes into the final frame.
Pressing for an equalizer, Sweden tied the score when Leo Carlsson scored his second of the game with less than four minutes remaining.
Finland had an opportunity to regain the lead when Sweden’s Fabian Lysell was penalized for high-sticking with under two minutes to go in regulation. But instead Stjernborg won the puck at center ice after a Swedish clear, then skated in alone and beat Finnish goaltender Jani Lampinen for the winning goal.
In Monday’s other quarterfinals, the United States faced Germany in Moncton while Czechia downed Switzerland 9-1 and defending-champion Canada met Slovakia in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Jiri Kulich had two goals and two assists in Czechia’s rout of Switzerland.
Czechia is the top-ranked team in the quarterfinals after finishing the preliminary round with a tournament-high 10 points.
Elsewhere, Latvia defeated Austria 5-2 in the opening game of a best-of-three relegation series. The teams meet again Wednesday. The winner of the series will appear at next year’s world juniors in Goteborg, Sweden, while the loser will be relegated to Division I Group A.
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