Toronto Maple Leafs’ Timothy Liljegren scores as Sweden loses final round-robin game; Sandin injured

It wasn’t exactly what he was looking for, but, hey, he scored!

Timothy Liljegren and Team Sweden fell short at the men’s World Hockey Championship in Finland, losing their first game of the tournament after falling 4-3 to the United States. The loss meant Sweden finished second in Group B and will play a Latvian team coming off a big win against the also previously undefeated Switzerland to qualify for the playoff round.

Fortunately, Liljegren scored his first goal of the tournament. At 57:29, with Sweden needing to do whatever it took to force overtime, Liljegren managed to get past the American blueline before knocking the puck past USA goaltender Casey DeSmith for the 3-3 goal. The goal seemed to spark the Swedes, who had a few chances in the final few minutes, but couldn’t end up grabbing the extra points.

Liljegren now sits at three points in four games, joining the team shortly after the Leafs were eliminated earlier this month. It’s his first men’s World Championship tournament, having last donned the yellow and blue Tre Kronor back at the 2018 World Junior Championship. Liljegren had 18 points in 67 games with the Leafs this year and one assist in two NHL games.

Liljegren’s defensive partner over the past four games was Rasmus Sandin, his good buddy and former Leaf teammate. Sandin was forced to leave the game after just two shifts when he was hit by Mikey Eyssimont in the knee, with Sandin unable to stand on his own. He left the game and never returned, while Eyssimont was ejected from the game.

“Hopefully, Sandin will do well,” Hallam told Aftonbladet,and translated via Google Translate. “Then whether [he is] okay to play further in the tournament or not, we will see during the evening and tomorrow.”

Ouch.

Sweden will play Latvia in Riga on Thursday, May 25, with puck drop set for 1:20 PM ET.