'A Great Experience'

STOCKHOLM - No real silver lining.

But still a bronze to bring back home.

Mikael Backlund, Rasmus Andersson and host Sweden rebounded from a crushing semifinal loss to the United States on Saturday to haul in some hardware at the 2025 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm by way of a 6-2 win against Denmark in the bout for bronze.

A third-place finish for the Flames friends.

"At the end of the day, the disappointment is there - but every time you get to wear this jersey and play in front of your home fans and for your national team, it's always special and it's never anything I take for granted," said Andersson, who last represented Sweden at the 2014 World Under-18 Championship. "It's been great. It's been great, honestly. And it's been so much fun playing for Team Sweden again. It was such a long time ago I got to do that. The experience has been awesome.

"Obviously, would've liked to have ended with a different colour than this."

Backlund had two goals and an assist in the medal-clinching effort, earning Sweden's Player of the Game honours.

He bashed in the ice-breaker 5:16 into the second period, calming some nerves with a redirect on a centering pass from Seattle Kraken blueliner Adam Larsson, and added some wiggle room with a short-side snipe just under five minutes later, giving Sweden a swift 2-0 lead by mid-game.

Back to 'Backs.'

"I think for the whole team it felt good," said Backlund, who captained his side to gold at the same event in 2018 and also has silver from 2011 and bronzes from 2010 and 2014 in his collection. "We were playing a lot better in the second after a slow first period. We were still disappointed by yesterday. In the second, we started enjoying ourselves a little more and playing harder.

"It was a relief to get those goals and we took it from there."

Another marker, this time off the stick of Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Johansson, put Sweden up three by period's end, leaving little doubt before the final stanza of Sweden's standing in the tournament.

Lucas Raymond of the Detroit Red Wings added further comfort early in the third before a small rally by the upstart Danes, via strikes from Nick Olesen and Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, closed the gap to two.

Johansson pinballed in a rebound on Backlund's second-chance opportunity, and Mika Zibanejad iced it with five minutes remaining for the eventual 6-2 final.

"I mean, you could probably tell we were pretty disappointed in the first period," Andersson said. "Still, had to bear down. In the second period, we score a couple quick ones and the third one and then the game is kind of over from there, it feels like.

"Credit to the Danes. They didn't give up. They got here by beating a hell of a Canadian team. They should be really proud of themselves for this tournament."

The result offers a little extra luggage, but no comfort.

"I don't know if we still have regrouped," Backlund said. "It's still hard. Sad feelings. Disappointed. Frustrated. A lot of emotions still. But it was nice to win today in front of our home fans, get a medal, and celebrate with the fans."

In all, Andersson, the captain, ended the tournament with six points (2G, 4A) and a plus-1 rating while averaging 18:31 over his 10-game tour.

Backlund, an alternate, finished the tournament with nine points (3G, 6A) in nine games - one of four Swedes to finish at a point-per-game clip or better.

"It was great," Backlund said. "A great experience. So much fun to play here in Sweden so close to my hometown. Just disappointing yesterday.

"Overall, it was great to play in front of the Swedish fans."