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Elias Pettersson scores on another ridiculous shot as Sweden defeats USA

Sweden heads to the gold medal game for the first time since 2014.
Elias Pettersson

In the last three World Junior Championships, Sweden has lost in the bronze medal game, falling short of the podium. They haven’t won a medal since 2014, when they fell to Finland in the gold medal game.

This year, Sweden is guaranteed a medal, as they knocked off the host Americans 4-2 in the semifinals and will face either Canada or the Czech Republic on Friday to fight for gold.

It took over half a game for the first goal, but when it finally came, it was off the stick of Canucks prospect Elias Pettersson. And it was off his stick with great velocity and accuracy.

 

 

That’s the second time in the tournament that he scored with a ridiculous shot from the left faceoff circle and the two goals bear more than a passing similarity.

Here’s Pettersson’s goal against the Czech Republic from the round robin stage.

 

 

What’s impressive about both goals is his patience and poise with the puck. He doesn’t just fire the puck right away, but waits for just the right moment when a shooting lane opens up. Against the Czech Republic, he waited for the defenceman to step aside to defend a potential pass. As soon as he does, Pettersson shoot blocker side just under the bar.

Against the US, Pettersson waited for the American penalty killer, Ryan Poehling, to go past the shooting lane as he slides in to block the shot. As soon as Poehling goes a step too far, Petterssson shoots, putting the puck into the top corner on the glove side, opposite of where he shot on the goal against the Czechs.

Pettersson clearly has an NHL-caliber release on his shot, but one of the criticisms of him (levied by himself) in this tournament is that he hasn’t done enough 5-on-5.

That wasn’t the case in this game. Separated from Alex Nylander, Pettersson was far more noticeable at 5-on-5, where he took on more of a puck-carrying, playmaking role. He played on a line with Linus Lindstrom and Fabian Zetterlund to start, with Jesper Boqvist joining the line when Zetterlund was injured and left the game.

He created several chances for his linemates despite some stifling defence from the Americans. Several of his passes were picked off at the last moment, in particular a pass to Rasmus Dahlin at the backdoor that would have given the 17-year-old defenceman a tap-in goal at the end of the first period.

That chance was set up by one of Pettersson’s more absurd plays of the game, as he back-heeled a long outlet pass by Timothy Liljegren to Dahlin to enter the zone.

 

 

The presence of mind to make that pass and the hand-eye (or foot-eye) coordination to pull it off are incredibly impressive.

Pettersson also drew a penalty, which has proven to be a specialty with his shifty changes of speed, and showed a surprising physical edge. He knocked his man to the ice in the offensive zone to win a puck battle early in the second, then sent the 6’3”, 209 lbs Max Jones flying after he undressed Andrew Peeke and set up Lindstrom with a scoring chance.

 

 

Pettersson led all Swedish forwards in ice time with 19:09 and is tied with Andersson and Nylander for the team-lead in scoring in the tournament. He currently has 5 goals and 7 points in 6 games.

Sweden followed up Pettersson's second period goal with three more in the third period, including two shorthanded goals on one USA power play. While the US made it close with two late goals, it wasn't enough. Pettersson and Sweden are heading to the gold medal game.