World Championship Recap - 26.05.24

Andrew Mangiapane and Team Canada were forced to settle for a fourth-place finish at the IIHF World Championship in Czechia.

Sweden scored three times in the third period en route to a 4-2 victory in Sunday’s bronze medal game.

Sweden 4, Canada 2

The Swedes struck first in Sunday’s bronze medal match, going ahead 12:05 into the first period on a tally from Carl Grundstrom.

The Swedish forward set himself up in the low slot, quickly firing a puck past Canadian netminder Jordan Binnington after a nifty setup from linemate Linus Johansson.

Sweden outshot Canada 7-4 in the opening frame and took their one-goal advantage into the break.

But Canada responded quickly in period two, with Mangiapane at the centre of the action.

He fired a backhand shot from the slot that was kicked out by Swedish goalie Filip Gustavsson, the rebound fell to teammate Jamie Oleksiak, who spun behind the goal and zipped a pass to forward Dylan Cozens, who ripped his effort past Gustavsson from between the face-off dots for his ninth goal of the tournament.

Mangiapane had a golden opportunity to give Canada the lead later in the frame, but his chance from just outside the blue paint sailed past a frozen Gustavsson and over the crossbar.

The tempo - and scoring pace - kicked up a notch in period three.

Pierre-Luc Dubois put the Canadians ahead 2-1 just over four minutes into the frame, one-timing a puck home from the right circle after linemate Brandon Hagel sifted a hard pass across the Swedish zone.

But Sweden equalized just before the midpoint of period three on a point blast from defenceman Erik Karlsson.

Grundstrom scored his second goal of the game four minutes later, giving Sweden a 3-2 lead with 6:18 to play.

Marcus Johansson sealed Canada’s fate with an empty-netter five seconds from time.

Binnington made 29 saves for the Canadians, while Gustavsson turned aside 20 shots in the Swedish crease.

Mangiapane finished the contest with an assist and three shots on goal - the second-highest total from a Canadian on the day - in just under 13 and a half minutes of playing time.

He concluded the tournament tied for fifth among Canadian scoring leaders with seven points (1G, 6A).