Sweden rallies, Russia wins at World Championship

Sweden rallied for a 4-3 shootout win against the Czech Republic in a preliminary-round game at the IIHF World Championship at Chizhovka Arena in Minsk, Belarus, on Sunday.

Joakim Lindstrom beat Czech goalie Alexander Salak for the deciding goal in the tiebreaker.

Oscar Moller, who played 87 games with the Los Angeles Kings from 2008-11, scored twice for Sweden, which is 1-1-0-0.

Lindstrom, who played for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Phoenix Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche in parts of five NHL seasons, scored the game-tying goal for the defending champions midway through the third period. He had an assist on Moller's second goal.

"We're competing hard and we know each other pretty well out there," Lindstrom said of his linemates, Moller and Mikael Backlund (Calgary Flames), according to the IIHF website. "So it's easy to read off each other and create stuff. So far, so good."

Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks), Jiri Hudler (Flames) and Martin Zatovic scored for Czech Republic. The Czechs are 0-1-1-0, including a 3-2 overtime win against Slovakia.

Hertl scored eight seconds into the game, firing a wrist shot past Swedish goalie Anders Nilsson (New York Islanders). The Czechs went ahead 3-1 when Zatovic scored midway through the second period.

In other preliminary-round games Sunday:

Russia 4, Finland 2: Russia got goals from Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals) and Viktor Tikhonov in the first five minutes against Finland at Minsk Arena.

The Russians, 2-0-0-0, snapped a six-game losing streak against Finland, including a quarterfinal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Sergei Kalinin, who replaced injured Andrei Loktionov (Carolina Hurricanes; shoulder) in the Russia lineup, had a goal and an assist. Nikolai Kulyomin scored for Russia, which is tied with the United States atop Group A with six points.

Juuso Hietanen and Jere Karalahti scored for Finland, which has lost its first two games.

The United States plays Russia on Monday (1 p.m. ET; NBCSN).

Norway 4, Denmark 3: Norway scored four straight goals to overcome an early two-goal deficit against Denmark at Chizhovka Arena.

Norway is 2-0-0-0 and in first place in Group A with six points. Denmark is 0-0-0-2.

Norway scored three times on the power play and on a penalty shot. Jonas Holos, who played for the Avalanche in 2010-11, scored in the first period to make it 2-1. Ken Andre Olimb tied it at 2-2 with a power-play goal at 2:29 of the second, and Per-Age Skroder scored on a penalty shot after he had been wrapped up by Oliver Lauridsen (Philadelphia Flyers) on a breakaway.

Mats Trygg scored the game-winning goal in the third period.

Jannik Hansen (Vancouver Canucks) pulled Denmark to within 4-3 with a third-period goal. Morten Poulsen and Frederik Storm scored for Denmark.

Norway plays Sweden next, and Denmark meets Italy.

Italy 2, France 1: Markus Gander scored with less than a minute remaining in the third period to lead Italy to a win against France at Chizhovka Arena.

Two games into the tournament, Italy (1-0-0-1) has three points and France (0-1-0-1) two. France's loss came two days after it defeated Canada 3-2 in a shootout, its second win against the Canadians since 1931.

France's Laurent Meunier opened the scoring at 10:57 of the second period when he skated into the neutral zone, took a pass from Julien Desrosier and on a partial breakaway beat Bellissimo five-hole.

Giulio Scandella responded for Italy less than two minutes later with a power-play goal. The Italians killed five French power plays, including a two-man advantage that lasted nearly two minutes.

Germany 3, Latvia 2: Thomas Oppenheimer's penalty shot goal 15:26 into the third period snapped a 2-2 tie to give the Germans the win against Latvia at Minsk Arena.

Oppenheimer beat Tampa Bay Lightning goaltending prospect Kristers Gudlevskis 24 hours after his shootout winner against Kazakhstan. The Germans are 1-1-0-0; Latvia is 1-0-0-1.

Washington Capitals goaltending prospect Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves, including on several Latvia chances in the final minute.

Germany plays Finland, and Latvia plays Kazakhstan on Tuesday.