USA Overcomes Three Deficits to Beat Sweden 4-3

The United States of America had to overcome three deficits to defeat Sweden by a score of 4-3 on Monday.

The game started out with a questionable hit on the Americans. A minute in, Gabriel Landeskog hit Nick Schmaltz hard and high, a hit that would take Schmaltz out of the game immediately afterwards.

With Landeskog still on the ice, Sweden took advantage and scored the first goal of the game. The Colorado Avalanche captain stood in front of the net while Anton Stralman was busy setting up Elias Lindholm. Lindhom then proceeded to shoot on net, beating Jimmy Howard for the 1-0 goal at 2:14.

But at 3:21, USA struck back. This time, Jack Eichel took a shot on net, but it was weak enough to be used as an intentional rebound. The puck then bounced out to Clayton Keller, who, fresh off of a hat-trick against Denmark on Sunday, scored to make it 1-1.

At 13:23, the Swedes found them back in front. Lindholm enjoyed scoring his first goal, so he asked Oliver Ekman-Larsson to send him a pass at the hashmarks and fired a fast wrist shot past Howard, giving Sweden the 2-1 lead.

The goals kept coming, though. At 18:12, Dylan Larkin sent Johnny Gaudreau flying down the middle of the ice all alone. Gaudreau, a master with the puck, sent it through Viktor Fasth's legs and in to make it 2-2, a goal that they hoped would keep them tied until the end of the period.

But that wasn't the case. At 18:47, Victor Hedman took one of the hardest shots you'll see at the tournament from the point, whizzing over Howard's arm and in to make it 3-2.

Just like Lindholm, Gaudreau was able to score his second of the game. At 2:57 in the middle frame, a great passing play by Eichel and Anders Lee would confuse the Swedish defender. Eichel made the last pass to Gaudreau, who one-timed the snap shot just in front of the crease to make it 3-3. 

With just one goal on five power play chances for Sweden, the Americans wanted to make them pay for not capitalizing on their chances. At 11:47, J.T. Compher tipped in a shot from American captain Connor Murphy from the point, tipping in the flying disk just in front of the Swedish net to take their first lead of the night. It was good enough to last the remainder of the game, giving them their second win of the tournament.

Both teams will sit out on Tuesday before returning to action later in the week. USA will play Italy at 16:15 local time on Wednesday, while Sweden will get a pair days off before taking to the ice against Latvia on Thursday.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Tweets by @eurohockey