Sweden laments lapses in loss to Finland at 4 Nations

MONTREAL -- Once again, Sweden was right there in a game at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

But after a second overtime loss, this one 4-3 to Finland at Bell Centre on Saturday, the Swedes were frustrated with their performance.

"I don't think that we reached the standards that we have set on ourselves in that room," Sweden defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "Finland played a great game. They capitalized on a lot of loose pucks and created a lot of offense through their transition, and when they got their opportunities, they scored some goals. Good for them.

"They played a [good] game, and you know, overall, though, I don't think that we're too satisfied with the way that we went through the 60-plus minutes."

Sweden has two points in two games as the tournament shifts to Boston, where it will play the United States at TD Garden on Monday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

"It's not great," forward William Nylander said of Sweden's chances of winning the tournament. "We have two overtime losses in two games so, I mean, just better regroup here and play the game against (the U.S.), go win and hopefully the scores go our way."

Sweden at least had to be happier with its start on Saturday. After playing a lackluster opening 10 minutes of their first game against Canada, when they were down 2-0 early and had to claw their way back to a 4-3 overtime loss, the Swedes took a 1-0 lead on Mika Zibanejad's unassisted goal at 8:35 of the first.

After Finland forward Anton Lundell tied it at 10:58 of the first, however, Sweden coach Sam Hallam said things started to turn.

"I think we give up a really simple situation to Finland's first goal and I think the game changed a bit there," he said. "We were playing (with) confidence, playing quick, finding good ways with the puck. After that, I think Finland got a bit of hope, a bit of jump in their game.

"Second period I feel we lost a little bit of our structure, just felt like we were playing more individual. In the third we got back to playing the way we want to play, or the way the coach wants us to play, but we didn't get looks to get pucks to the net. There (are) a couple things I really wish we would have done better."

Zibanejad echoed Hallam on that.

"I think early on, they get their chances on the rush. I think when we were smarter with our forecheck, with our third forward coming back, I thought they didn't have much," he said of Finland.

"But I thought the chances that they got, we were a little bit too aggressive, especially outside the dots and left a little bit too much room for them to counter and go the other way. They have a good forward group; they've got some skill up there. Just disappointing."

It also didn't help that starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson was pulled after the first period. It wasn't because Gustavsson allowed two goals on four shots, including a power-play goal to Mikko Rantanen with 14 seconds left in the first. Gustavsson was "feeling a bit under the weather," Hallam said.

"If he would have felt anything before the game, we probably would have made a change earlier. I don't want to give any kind of negative criticism to his game. I think that power-play goal they scored, if (Rantanen) hit that shot harder, I think [Gustavsson] would have saved it. And then it was a 2-on-1. Unfortunate for us. Unfortunate for 'Gus.' But that's the way it is."

Linus Ullmark made 15 saves on 17 shots in relief.

"It's the same kind of feelings you have after the Canada game as well: felt like we were right there, likely deserved to win," he said. "I feel we played a better game overall but at the end of the day, it's all about scoring more goals than the opponents and in this game we didn't. Nothing really more you can say about it. It's always the same kind of feelings after a loss."

Yes, Sweden was right there again. For the second straight game, however, it wasn't good enough and in the words of several of their players, their overall game wasn't good enough, either.

"We didn't come out and play the way that we expected out of ourselves. Whether we're better or not than them on paper doesn't really matter," Karlsson said.

"I feel like we had a very high intensity, emotional game on Wednesday, and it was maybe a little bit settled down today right from the start. Maybe we fooled ourselves a little bit there. But again, it's all on us to be better than that, I think, and we just didn't reach the standard that we have on ourselves throughout the game today."