Sweden Upsets Canada in Men's Olympic Hockey 2022 Matchup to Advance to Semifinals

The Sweden men's hockey team has advanced to the semifinals at the 2022 Winter Olympics with a 2-0 win over Canada on Wednesday. 

Lucas Wallmark broke the stalemate with an unassisted goal midway through the third period. Anton Lander put the icing on the cake with his team-leading third goal of the Games with less than two minutes left to play. 

There were plenty of question marks about how good this Canada team was leading into the knockout stage of the tournament. All three of their wins came against Germany and China, who combined to go 1-0-7 in Beijing. 

Canada's only significant test in group play was against Team USA in a game the Americans won 4-2. 

In the playoff game to reach the quarterfinals, Canada looked sloppy early against China. The latter had two breakaways and a penalty shot in the first period. The Canadians eventually got on track to earn a 7-2 win.

A lack of consistency has been the defining trait for Canada. Head coach Claude Julien has been trying to find the right answers. Matt Tomkins stopped 77 of 80 shots in three games, including Wednesday, after taking over for Edward Pasquale. 

Canada's power play resulted in four goals on eight chances against China in the playoff. 

Sweden was a significant step up in competition from that game. The European side won two of three games in Group C, with their lone defeat coming in overtime against an excellent Finland squad. 

The Swedes also had plenty of rest for this game because they secured a bye into the quarterfinal as the highest-ranked second-place finisher coming out of group play. 

Lars Johansson and Sweden's defense did a fantastic job of limiting Canada's opportunities. Johansson only had to stop 22 shots to record his first shutout of the tournament. 

Canada had three power-play chances in the game but was unable to convert on any of them. Julien's squad only managed four shots in the third period. 

The Canada defense was able to match Sweden for most of the game. Wallmark finally got Sweden on the board when he forced a turnover and got a shot off that was deflected by a Canada player before getting past Tomkins. 

Lander sealed the win with an empty-net goal. The victory sends Sweden into its first Olympic semifinal since 2014 when it lost to Canada in the gold-medal game. 

This marks the first time Canada's men's hockey team won't medal at the Olympics since 2006. 

Sweden will take on the Russian Olympic Committee in the second semifinal on Friday at 8:10 a.m. ET.