Zibanejad’s overtime winner gives Sweden first gold in 31 years

Ten minutes and nine seconds into the overtime it finally came, the first and only goal of the gold medal game. It came out of nothing when Mika Zibanejad picked up the puck outside the bench and suddenly skated clear from the right flank and beat Makarov with a high backhand shot.

Before that Makarov had made 57 saves in a game that Sweden dominated completly for the first two periods. Sweden came out strong and created some good chances early with Russia only going on counter attacks. The Russians were dangerous on their quick attacks but it took until 12:34 before they had their first shot on goal.

Shots on goal in the first period was 17-3 and second period continued in the same style even if Sweden had more difficult to create good chances from their momentum. Sweden played with a strong fore checking and Russia had problems clearing the puck from their own zone. Just as in earlier games Sweden had difficulties to take advantage of their big puck possession and didn't had enough traffic in front of Makarov. Rickard Rakell had the best chance of the period with just seconds left when he made an attack from the left wing. Shots on goal in the second period 22-1, with a total of crazy 39-4 after two periods.

In the third the Russians came out much stronger and Ignat Zemchenko had an early chance but Jonas Gustafsson was solid in the Swedish net despite the difficult game for him. Later Russia got their second power play of the game and tournament MVP Yevgeni Kuznetsov was so close to give Russia the lead but his shot hit the post, just seconds later Sweden got a great chance when Oscar Klefbom finished of a 3 on 2 counter attack but Markov made another save. But the best chance of the regular time came with only 32 seconds left to play, Kuznetsov found Nikita Gusev with a cross pass but Gustafsson made a great save moving from side to side.

Gustafsson who had a very difficult tournament as Sweden dominated most of their games leaving Gustafsson with mostly a few but very difficult counter attacks to stop. "This was the toughest game in my life, I had four shots for the first two periods, my head almost fell a sleep", he said after the game.

After being critized in previous tournaments for not being at their best in the most important game Sweden now made a great game in the final and outshot Russia 58-17 but almost lost it anyway when they just couldn't beat Makarov, but then Zibanejad came and took the role as the Swedish hero.

Swedish head coach Roger Rönnberg didn't want to talk about one hero "Every guy in a yellow jersey is a hero", he said after game. Max Friberg scored nine goals and were selected on the All Star Team but didn't score today. "This is big for Swedish hockey", he said and about his own performance he said "It has been good, I'm pleased".

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