This wasn’t exactly what he was looking for, but he scored!
Timothy Lillegren and Team Sweden failed at the Men’s World Hockey Championships in Finland, losing their first game of the tournament after losing 4-3 to the United States. The loss means that Sweden finished second in Group B and will play Latvia after their massive victory over previously undefeated Switzerland to qualify for the preliminary round.
Fortunately, Liljegren scored his first goal in the tournament. At 57:29, with Sweden needing to do everything it could to force overtime, Liljegren was able to get past the American ground ball before beating American goaltender Casey DeSmith with a 3-3 goal. The goal seemed to ignite the fuse of the Swedish team, who had few chances in the last few minutes, but were unable to collect the extra points.
Timothy Lillegren linked it to Sweden. huge. 3-3. #IIHFworlds pic.twitter.com/rlG1cQQsk5
– Stephen Ellis (@SELlisHockey) May 23, 2023
Now sitting at three points in four games, Liljegren joins the team shortly after the Leafs were eliminated earlier this month. It’s the men’s first World Series, after Treh Kronor last donned yellow and blue at the 2018 World Junior Championships. Lillgren has scored 18 points in 67 games with the Leafs this year and 1 assist in two NHL games.
Liljegren’s defensive partner for the past four matches has been Rasmus Sanden, his good friend and former Leaf teammate. Sandin was forced out of the game after only two shifts when he was hit in the knee by Mickey Easemont, and Sandin was unable to stand on his own. He left the game and never returned, while Easemont was kicked out of the game.
“I hope Sandyn does a good job,” Hallam said She told Aftonbladet, and translated via Google Translate. “if [he is] Well to play more in the tournament or not, we’ll see through the evening and tomorrow.”
Ouch.
Sweden will play Latvia in Riga on Thursday, May 25, with the puck set at 1:20 PM ET.