USA BLUE

4-2

SWEDEN

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings – USA White: 

[one_half]Farabee – Turcotte – Caufield
Gruden – Beecher – Brink
Toporowski – Pinto – Ford
McLaughlin – Lindmark – Loheit[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Samuelsson – Emberson
York – Stastney
Johnson – LaCombe[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Saville
Knight

Scratches:

Forward lines and defense pairings – Finland: 

[one_half]Wernblom – Back – Karlberg
Hallander – Gustafsson – Fagemo
Berggren – Olofsson – Eriksson
Holtz – Henriksson – Raymond[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Bjornfot – Andersson
Ginning – Lundkvist
Cronholm – Bondesson[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:
Eliasson
Portillo

Scratches:

Game Report

Immediately following the tightly-played 3-2 loss to Finland by the USA White squad, USA Blue suited up to take on Team Sweden. Notable players include Montreal Canadiens prospects Cole Caufield and Jacob Olofsson and Philadelphia Flyers prospects Cam York, Joel Farabee, Bobby Brink, and Adam Ginning.

The open 20 minutes of this game were a far cry from its predecessor. Both teams succeeded in keeping their opponents away from the net, with Sweden just barely edging out the American 7-6 in shots during the period. But goaltending proved to be a difference-maker early on as Jesper Eliasson struggled to keep the puck away.

Blake McLaughlin opened the scoring with a quick rebound below the goal line that snuck through Eliasson and the post. Then John Beecher completed an easy wrister on a breakaway to make it 2-0. Finally, Alex Turcotte and Farabee combined to put USA Blue up 3-0 to end the opening frame.

The second period was noticeably quieter, with neither team finding the back of the net. Sweden had two power play opportunities thanks to minor infractions by York and Luke Loheit, but couldn’t convert either man advantage.

Still trailing by three goals heading into the final frame, Sweden turned on their signature quickness and high-pressure style of play to stage a comeback. Just 27 seconds into the period, Samuel Fagemo sent the puck sailing through Isaiah Saville with a quick wrister to put his team on the board.

At the halfway mark of the period David Gustafsson pulled Sweden within one goal of tying the game, and the intensity markedly rose on the ice. Despite the efforts by the Swedes, Caufield was the next player to put the puck over the goal line – an empty-netter scored with less than a minute left in the game.

Overall impressions today were that Farabee stood out the most, by far, followed by Turcotte and Caufield in a close third. Beecher was also quite noticeable, with strong hockey IQ and puck management. Lucas Raymond was one of the top Swedish players in this game.

Team Sweden will play again on Sunday, when they face the USA White team at 4:00pm ET.

Plus/Minus

▲    Joel Farabee, Alex Turcotte, Cole Caufield, Lucas Raymond, John Beecher

▼    Jesper Eliasson

Stars of the Game

Highlights provided by USA Hockey

#TeamUSA Blue leads Sweden 3-0 after one thanks to goals from @blakemclaughli5, @Turcotte__71 and this breakaway goal from @JohnWbeecher. #WJSS

Tune in for period ✌️ → https://t.co/JLXNrA7P1h pic.twitter.com/LdajSMRkh1

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) July 27, 2019

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