Axelsson Scores Twice to Lead Sweden Over Czech’s at Karjala Cup

Sweden has taken the first game of the Karjala Cup with a 5-3 win against the Czech Republic on Wednesday.

The Czech's, who won three of four games against Sweden in men's action last season, got on the board first. At 12:55 in the opening frame, Andrej Nestrasil set up Jakub Nakladal on the power play, with Nakladal's shot from the point breezing past Jhonas Enroth after getting slightly tipped by a Swedish defenceman in front of the crease.

But just two minutes later, the Czech's found themselves tied. Dennis Everberg would put his team on the score sheet after Anton Lander fed him in front, with Everberg making no mistake on the shot against Pavel Francourz.

The two teams would trade goals for the remainder of the contest. First, Michal Birner would score early in the second to give the Czech's their second lead of the battle. At 9:53 in the second, former LA Kings forward Oscar Moller would make it 2-2 on a Joakim Lindstrom set-up, only for Lindstrom to score just over two minutes later to take their first lead of the game.

At 15:22, Lukas Radil would make it 2-2 to tie it up on the power play. After Jakub Klepis took a shot from the point, Lukas Radil, standing right in the way of goalie Jhonas Enroth, was able to tip the puck off his leg and in to send the game into the second period tied at two.

The Swedes would pour on the pressure, later resulting in a beautiful power play goal with 8:25 left in the game. Dick Axelsson would finish off a tremendous passing play between Linus Omark and Andre Petersson, which saw almost every single player on the ice touch the puck at least once. Axelsson would score a very similar goal in the dying minutes of the contest, finishing off a multi-pass play to give Sweden the 5-3 win and an advantage early in the tournament.

Sweden will travel to Finland now for the remainder of the tournament with a battle set against Canada on Friday. The Czech Republic will also play on Friday, meeting up with Switzerland in the early game.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.