Team Canada started the 2026 IIHF World Championship strongly with a 5-3 win over the Swedish men's national ice hockey team in the opening game. Canada played with speed, skill, and strong teamwork against one of the tournament’s toughest teams.

Darnell Nurse played an important role for Canada and finished the game with two assists. His first assist led to the opening goal by John Tavares early in the first period.

Canada continued to attack with speed and confidence, and the team ended the first period with a comfortable 2-0 lead. But Sweden came back strongly in the second period. The Swedish team scored twice to level the game at 2-2 and quickly changed the momentum of the match.

Canada handled the pressure well and responded in some fashion. Former Edmonton Oilers forward Dylan Holloway scored an important goal to give Canada the lead again.

But Sweden answered quickly, and just 77 seconds later, Mattias Ekholm scored to make it 3-3 before the final period.

Canada finished the game strongly in the third period and finally pulled away from Sweden. Connor Brown scored the winning goal after a fast odd-man rush and gave Canada an important late lead. Sweden tried to come back, but Canada stayed calm and controlled the game.

Dylan Cozens later scored an insurance goal and made the lead safer for Team Canada. Darnell Nurse got his second assist on that goal and finished as one of Canada’s top point scorers for the night.

Darnell Nurse played well on both offense and defense throughout the game. Evan Bouchard did not score any points, but he still had a strong impact by playing the most minutes among all Canadian defensemen in the win.

"We got better as the game went on," - Team Canada Goalie on Winning the First Game

After the game, Team Canada’s goalie, Jet Greves, talked about the win over Sweden. He said the third period’s game was the turning point of the match. 

"We got better as the game went on," said goalie Jet Greaves. "We did a good job in the third period, and we're excited to get the three points against a really good team.”

He acknowledged Sweden’s strong roster but emphasized staying aggressive and maintaining momentum throughout the game to secure victory.

“We have a lot of respect for them and know how many great players they have. But now we have to keep our foot on the gas."

It was a perfect start for Team Canada. If they want to win gold, they must keep playing dominant hockey like this. Last time, their dream was broken when Denmark beat them in the quarterfinal and knocked them out.

Now it will be interesting to see what Canada does in the next match. Hockey Canada will play the next game against Italy on May 16.

Do you think Team Canada will be able to maintain their winning momentum?

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Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Edited by

Souvik Roy