Sweden off the mark in World Championship with cruise past Denmark

Jack Berglund of Sweden attempts to beat Phillip Bruggisser of Denmark
Jack Berglund of Sweden attempts to beat Phillip Bruggisser of DenmarkJesper Zerman / Bildbyran Photo Agency / Profimedia

Sweden romped to a first win of their Group B campaign in the 2026 IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship, beating neighbours Denmark 6-2 in Fribourg, Switzerland.

Following a 5-3 loss to Canada on the opening day, Sweden are off the mark in this year's tournament, while Denmark are still awaiting their first points having also suffered a 4-1 defeat to Czech Republic 48 hours earlier.

Danish resistance was broken in the 10th minute when Viggo Bjorck played the puck into the path of Mattias Ekholm, who created space in front to fire home the opening goal. 

An interference call against Linus Karlsson gave Denmark a route back into the match, but the Tre Kronor defence not only held out but doubled their lead soon after getting back to full strength, winning the puck behind the Danish net before Lucas Raymond set it back for Oliver Ekman-Larsson to strike.

The Danish Lions showed some grit either side of the first break after a cross-checking call against Daniel Baastrup in the final minute of the first period gave Sweden a powerplay, but they weren't able to survive another when Nick Olesen was guilty of the same offence five minutes into period two.

Sweden worked the puck around the Danish zone before Raymond thundered in a quick shot from a tight angle following Joel Persson's pass, and less than three minutes later it was 4-0 - Robert Hagg and Carl Grundstrom combined in the build-up before setting up Jacob Silfverberg, who fought hard to maintain control before scoring.

Interference by Grundstrom then allowed Denmark to pull a goal back 12 minutes into the middle period, as Joachim Blichfeld scored just four seconds into the powerplay. However, hooking by Blichfeld then allowed for a moment of Swedish hockey history.

On the resulting powerplay, Ivar Stenberg slid the puck across for Bjorck to hit first time to restore the four-goal cushion and become Sweden's youngest scorer at the World Championship at 18 years and 66 days old.

Three players served two minutes in the box for fighting early in a third period that saw both sides concede a spate of penalties, and Denmark finally made the most of one when Mikkel Aagaard finished in style on a powerplay with just over eight minutes to play.

But any hopes of a late Danish fightback were snuffed out five minutes from time when Karlsson finished at close range following a neat centre from Simon Holmstrom to round off the 6-2 victory.

Sam Hallam's side are up to fourth in the Group B table, three points shy of Canada and Slovakia and one behind Czech Republic. Only a better goal difference than Italy is keeping Denmark off the foot of the eight-team table.

Both side are back on the ice on Monday 18th - Denmark face Canada while Sweden meet the Czechs.

Austria beat Hungary to stay perfect

In Group A in Zurich, neighbouring Austria have joined Switzerland and Finland in securing back-to-back wins to open their tournament thanks to a 4-2 success over Hungary. The Hungarians stay above Great Britain on goal difference after two defeats thus far.

The teams were tied at 1-1 with 40 minutes played as Istvan Sofron's goal cancelled out Vinzenz Rohrer's opener, but Die Adler turned up the heat in the final period, as Thimo Nickl scored twice to secure the win after Dominic Zwerger's powerplay goal had restored the advantage. Peter Vincze registered what was no more than a consolation in the end for Hungary.

Follow the 2026 World Ice Hockey Championship on Flashscore.

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