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Joe Nieuwendyk had a goal and two assists and Canada scored three times in the second period to defeat Sweden, 3-2, and stay undefeated in the Olympic tournament. Rob Blake added a goal and an assist, Al MacInnis scored on the power play, and Patrick Roy made 27 saves for Canada (2-0). The Canadians need only a win or a tie against the United States on Monday to clinch first place in Group C and set up a quarterfinal meeting with the fourth-place team in Group D. Nicklas Lidstrom and Mats Sundin scored and Tommy Salo stopped 27 shots for Sweden, which fell into a second-place tie with the U.S. at 1-1. Sweden took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after Lidstrom scored on a 60-foot screen shot from the blue line at 15:27. But Canada dominated the second period, outshooting Sweden, 18-6, and emerged with a 3-1 lead. With Theoren Fleury of Canada and Sweden's Tommy Abelin in the box with coincidental unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, Nieuwendyk deflected Blake's bullet shot from the blue line past Salo to tie the game at 11:56. MacInnis put the Canadians ahead, 2-1, at 17:02 when he streaked down the left side, faked twice -- pulling Salo 5-feet from the goal -- and put the puck into the empty net. "It was a great thrill," said MacInnis, who has scored in each of Canada's first two games. "It was a big win for us. We're getting better every night. We have a lot to prove. It was tough to get adjusted from the time change and the jet lag but we overcame that with good practices." Blake increased the lead to two goals with seven seconds left in the period. He took a lead pass from Nieuwendyk and snapped a wrist shot between Salo's legs. While Sundin pulled Sweden within 3-2 at 9:31 of the third. With each team down a man, Sundin went around defensemen Adam Foote and Chris Pronger in front of the net and beat Roy to the stick side. Sweden's best chance to tie came with three minutes left
as Roy went down to save Niklas Sundrom's slapper from the
top of the left face-off circle. Roy stopped 15 of 16 shots
in the third. |
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