Tobias Forsberg scored with just seven seconds remaining in the third period to give Sweden a 4-3 win over Canada on Saturday at the world junior championships in Pardubice, Czech Republic.
Sweden (3-0) moved atop the Group A standings with one game left in the preliminary round. Canada (2-1), plays winless Denmark on Monday, while the Swedes battle the host Czechs, also 2-1.
Sweden's Tomas Larsson gets tangled with Canadian goalie Jonathan Bernier during their clash on Saturday.
(Petr David Josek/Associated Press)
The win ended a streak of 20 consecutive victories for Canadian junior teams at the tournament, dating back to early 2004.
Sweden outplayed Canada over the last 40 minutes, coming back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to take the lead. Canada's Claude Giroux tied the game 3-3 before Forsberg's heroics.
Brad Marchand and Shawn Matthias also scored for Canada.
"We are a young team and this is some adversity," head coach Craig Hartsburg said. "The kids are disappointed for sure, which they should be.
"We can learn from it. We'll stick together, the kids have to stick together. Our goal is to somewhere down the line get another chance to play them."
Boston Bruins prospect Marchand opened the scoring in the final minute of the first period when he outskated Swedish defenceman Johan Motin and beat goalie Jhonas Enroth with a backhand move.
Enroth denied Steve Stamkos as the buzzer sounded to end the first.
Canadian goalie Jonathan Bernier stopped Mikael Backlund and Forsberg among his 13 saves in the second period and also took a slapshot to the mask. He was not hurt on the play.
Canada managed only four shots in the stanza despite having three power plays.
Matthias, property of the Florida Panthers, gave the Canadians a two-goal lead from the slot when he converted Matt Halischuk's pass from behind the net.
Stamkos also assisted on the play, his fourth point of the tournament.
Canada, which shut out its first two opponents, was finally scored upon when Eric Moe's slapshot from the point on a power play beat a screened Bernier.
Not long after, Bernier and his defencemen couldn't keep track of a wildly bouncing puck, which was buried in the net by Tony Lagerstrom.
Oscar Moller, who plays in the Western Hockey League, gave Sweden the lead on a power play, with Canada flustered defensively.
The Canadian squad got a huge break when Sweden took two penalties in quick succession in the dying minutes of regulation. The Swedes had too many men on the ice, with Motin soon whistled for an infraction.
Giroux had an easy tap-in after a dazzling no-look pass from phenom John Tavares.
Canada couldn't convert on the second penalty, and the game appeared headed to overtime.
The winner occurred after Marchand turned the puck over at the Swedish blue-line. Backlund deked out Drew Doughty to set up Forsberg for the winner.
In the day's other big matchup of unbeatens, United States held off Russia 3-2 in Group B action. James van Riemsdyk, the second overall pick in the NHL draft, scored for the third consecutive game for the Americans.
Finland blanked Kazakhstan 5-0 to move to 2-1 in Group B. Joonas Kemppainen had two goals for the winners.
Jakub Sklenar scored twice as the Czech Republic improved to 2-1 in Group A by beating rivals Slovakia 5-2.
Slovakia and Kazakhstan are 0-3.
With files from the Canadian Press
