Team Sweden wary of Team Europe this time

TORONTO-- Team Sweden won't take Team Europe lightly in its World Cup of Hockey 2016 semifinal at Air Canada Center on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, TVA Sports).
Team Sweden has been down that road once, in the pretournament stage, and it did not enjoy the trip.
"We played really stupid that game," Team Sweden defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said Friday of the 6-2 loss in a pretournament game at Verizon Center in Washington on Sept. 14. "We turned the puck over way too many times, their blue line, our blue line. If you do that against a team with that much skill, it is going to cost you. That is what happened to us."

The result has been the low point of the World Cup so far for Team Sweden.
"I think they had like eight odd-man rushes in one game," Team Sweden forward Patric Hornqvist said.

The game, which included a hat trick by Team Europe forward Leon Draisaitl and 34 saves by goaltender Jaroslav Halak, was a wake-up call for Team Sweden, one of the favorites to win the tournament.
It served its purpose. Since that game, it allowed five goals in three games, tightening its defensive scheme considerably.
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist allowed five on 22 shots in 47:01 before being pulled against Team Europe. He was highly critical of himself after that game.
But he has been one of the best goalies in this tournament since, making 81 saves on 85 shots in his two World Cup games, a 2-0 win against Team Finland and a 4-3 overtime loss to Team North America. Lundqvist missed the first game of the preliminary round because of illness, a 2-1 win against Team Russia when goaltender Jacob Markstrom played.
Some teams in this tournament have been guilty of looking past Team Europe and paid dearly, none more so than Team USA, which lost 3-0 to Team Europe in its first World Cup game. That loss put Team USA in a hole it never could climb out of, and it was eliminated with three losses in three games.
Team Sweden said there is no chance it will take Team Europe lightly Sunday. The stakes are too high, for one thing. For another, Team Europe earned its respect with the performance nine days ago.

"Look at their roster. They have a good team," Team Sweden defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "They have been together long enough now to know each other a little more and what style of play they need to be successful. They are going to be a tougher team to beat on Sunday than they were a [few] of days ago."
And they are going to be a more unified team. As a collection of players from eight European countries, it has taken some time for Team Europe to develop its identity and playing style. Karlsson looks at it now and sees a dangerous team.
"It probably took them a while to figure out what they needed to do be successful, what way they needed to go to win games," he said. "They have done that and they have proven that they can play good as a team. On paper, you know, they have good players."
The stakes also assure there is no overlooking any opponent. If Team Sweden can win Sunday, it would advance to the best-of-3 final against either Team Canada or Team Russia, who play the first semifinal Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN2, CBC, TVA, TVA Sports).
The final series starts at Air Canada Center on Tuesday, with games Thursday and Saturday (if necessary).
"We are professionals and we are in the semifinal of the World Cup with a great opportunity in front of us," Hornqvist said. "We have to be ready and we are going to be ready. That is the mindset. It doesn't matter who is in front of us.
"We played against them before and they beat us. We want to come out strong here and correct the things we didn't do so well in Washington."
Team Sweden believes it has addressed those deficiencies. The goaltending, thanks to a resurgence by Lundqvist, is much better, and it has been more efficient with its puck possession and more disciplined in its movement.
"We know what we have to do now to have a better chance to win against them," Ekman-Larsson said. "Hopefully, we have a better chance now to get it done."