WJC Canada Postgame: Marner impresses in loss to Sweden to close out disappointing round robin

In perhaps their toughest group in recent memory, Canada ended off 2015 with an less-than-impressive 5-2 loss against Sweden. 

Though the final standings were set before puck drop, Canada failed to beat either of the top two competitors in their group, finishing the round robin with just wins over Denmark and Switzerland.  

Canada came into this game as consensus underdogs, which honestly sounds a little odd.

Sweden, without top Leaf prospect William Nylander (who was involved in a weird cancelled media availability) looked every bit like the gold on their jerseys, while Canada was unable to generate much of anything before it was too late.

Nylander’s younger brother Alex started the scoring early on the PP before assisting Gustav Forling to put Sweden up 2-0 before the game was eight minutes old. Leafs prospect Dmytro Timashov picked up the secondary assist on the game’s opening goal.

Mitchell Stephens put Canada back in it with a late first period goal, but another successful powerplay for the Swedes and a goal from Adrian Kempe put the Scandanavians up two again.  

Leafs prospect Mitch Marner began to show his physical side in an attempt to spark his team:

Another angle:

However, surprisingly, young Mitch was unable to lift the team on his shoulders solely on this hit, as Sweden came back to go up by a 4-1 score 7:09 into the third for their first even strength goal of the day.

Marner did find the back of the net for his second goal and fourth point of the tournament, which puts him tied for second in team scoring.

It wasn’t enough, though, as Sweden added an empty netter late to seal the win.

The loss perhaps wasn’t surprising given the context of the game and knowing the strength of the two rosters so far, but for Canada, it’s obviously rather disappointing. Canada’s ten minor penalties by ten different players showed a lack of discipline, but if there’s any consolation, they did tie Sweden 1-1 at enve strength. 

For his best game of the tournament to date, Marner picks it up despite Travis Konency being named player of the game.

Host nation Finland and TLN Favourite Kasperi Kapanen host Canada Saturday at 11 a.m. Canadian (Eastern) Time.