MILAN — The Swedes are in trouble.
Just two days after needing a third-period rally to beat Italy, Tre Kroner lost convincingly to its archrival Finland on Friday, 4-1, in a performance that ought to raise alarm bells for the 2006 gold medalists.
“We didn’t really meet the standards that I think we have within ourselves and our team,” Sweden defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “That’s on us. That’s something we have to figure out.”
Finland, which lost its first game at the Olympics to Slovakia, was more physical, more composed and had better goaltending. They controlled the game throughout as the Swedes — who expect gold every bit as much as Canada or the United States — looked no better than they did against Italy.
This time, there was an opponent who could stay with them for 60 minutes, and this time, they were made to pay.
“We were hard on defense, we were hard on offense,” said Finland’s Anton Lundell, who scored a goal and saved another with a clearance off the line in the third. “So maybe the hardness was a little bit, one step higher than before.”
With Slovakia beating Italy 3-2 on Friday, all they need is a point against Sweden on Saturday to secure a shock Group B win.
The good news for Sweden, though, is that everyone makes it through to the knockouts. So there is still time to get things figured out, just not much of it.
“Once we get in on our forecheck and we come a little bit more together, I think you can see that’s where we’re getting our chances,” Mika Zibanejad said. “… At times, we get stretched out. That’s something we have to do more of, stay a little bit tighter, a little bit closer together.”
The low point of the afternoon came with Sweden on the power play, trailing 2-1 midway through the second period. Finland’s Erik Haula got to the corner first after a clearance, then out-battled three Swedes — Joel Eriksson Ek, Karlsson and Zibenejad — to feed Joel Armia for a shorthanded goal.
“When you’re doing the right things, good things happen,” Haula said.
That came after a first period in which Lundell and Nikolas Matinpalo had opened the scoring for Finland, with Rasmus Dahlin’s power-play blast as the only goal on six power-play chances for Sweden. Or, for that matter, their only goal all afternoon.
Mikko Rantanen’s empty-netter sealed it for Finland.
All game long, Finland had the edge in both creases and played more physical hockey. Elias Pettersson, who has been completely anonymous through two games, was checked into Finland’s bench on a tone-setting hit by Mikael Granlund early in the second, and there were extracurriculars throughout.
“These games are always heated,” said Juuse Saros, who finished with 34 saves for the Finns. “There’s a lot of emotions on both sides, so I think that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
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