Sweden needs OT to win WC opener

06 May 2016Henrik Lundqvist»

Latvia tied the opening game of the World Championships against Sweden in the third period but Sweden's Nyquist got the winner in the overtime.

Gustav Nyquist and Alexender Wennberg, two of Team Sweden's six NHL players, got a break-away with just under a minute to go of the overtime period against Latvia. They made no mistake and Nyquist was the last man on the puck when Sweden won the World Championship opener in VTB IcePalace in Moscow.

"Of course we wanted the win in regulation", says Nyquist to Swedish TV4. "But it feels nice to get the bonus point".

Sweden dominated from the start against Latvia and Jimmie Ericsson got the early goal at 2:52 with a great finish from the left circle. The Swedes had bids for more goals but young Latvian goalie Elvis Merzlikins had a great day at work. Sweden outshot Latvia 41-19 in regulation but failed to beat Merzlikins again. Instead Latvia tied it on a powerplay with 7:31 to go.

Merzlikins had a great game against Sweden

Kristaps Sotnieks was unmarked in the center of the attacking zone and took a shot that beat Jacob Markström. Mikelis Redlihs and Andris Dzerins with the assists. It could all have ended with a 3-point game for Latvia as speedy Gints Meija got a breakaway five minutes before the end of regulation. He failed to beat Markström though, and the game went to overtime.

See our photos from the game here.