World Junior Championship roundup: Sweden defeats U.S., stays perfect

Sweden 6, United States 3: Lucas Pettersson (Anaheim Ducks) and Eddie Genborg (Detroit Red Wings) each scored twice, and Sweden gained the top seed in Group A at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

“Amazing win,” Genborg said. “I think we play really good and play as a team for 60 minutes. So we are really nice win.

“I think we played like a team over 60 minutes and that’s the biggest key. To play like a team, and hold it together the whole 60 minutes.”

Jack Berglund (Philadelphia Flyers) had three assists, Viggo Bjorck (2026 NHL Draft eligible) and Liam Danielsson (2026 draft eligible) each had two assists, and Love Harenstram (St. Louis Blues) made 28 saves for Sweden (4-0-0-0), which seeks its first World Juniors gold medal since 2012.

Brodie Ziemer (Buffalo Sabres) had two assists for the United States (3-0-0-1). Brady Knowling (2026 draft eligible) allowed five goals on 28 shots through two periods in his World Juniors debut, and Nicholas Kempf (Washington Capitals) made 14 saves in the third period.

Sweden is 17-1-2-17 with two ties in 39 meetings in the all-time series against the United States. The Swedes also won their first WJC game against the Americans in five matches.

“We started so hot, and we kind of fell apart at moments, undisciplined again tonight,” Ziemer said. “Maybe a couple soft [calls] but still you can’t really have that excuse. And just wasn’t a full 60 minutes from us. I liked our game at times again, like I did the other day, and then we kind of took our foot off the gas and teams like that are gonna capitalize on it.”

Casper Juustovaara (2026 draft eligible) gave Sweden a 1-0 lead at 9:17 of the first period when his pass attempt in the slot deflected into the net off the skate of U.S. defenseman Logan Hensler (Ottawa Senators).

Genborg made it 2-0 with a power-play goal on a snap shot from the left face-off circle at 3:01 into the second period.

Pettersson extended the lead to 3-0 on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle at 6:01.

‘In these games you want to play well,” Pettersson said. “I’m here to score goals, so I’m happy to do that.”

Chase Reid (2026 draft eligible) pulled the United States to within 3-1 with a power-play goal at 8:55.

Pettersson pushed it to 4-1 with a short-handed goal at 12:44, and Genborg made it 5-1 with a power-play goal at 15:15.

“I don’t think anything’s ever really a killer,” Ziemer said of the short-handed goal. “You never want to think that you’re out of the game. Obviously, it hurt a little bit but what are you what are you gonna do? You kind of flush it, and you get back out there and play.”

Will Zellers (Boston Bruins) scored off a rebound for the United States to make it 5-2 at 16:44.

Teddy Stiga (Nashville Predators) made it 5-3 for the United States with a power-play goal on a redirection in the slot at 2:30 of the third.

Ivar Stenberg then scored to give Sweden a 6-3 lead during a 5-on-3 power play at 6:43.

“The energy we came out with and the mindset we came out to play was right there. It was spot on,” U.S. coach Bob Motzko said. “Unforunately the one bounce off our skate (on Sweden’s first goal) and we make a mistake and we’re chasing the game. We got them back a couple times but Sweden capitalized on our mistakes and you’re chasing the game and you can’t do that. We have to clean that up.”

The U.S. was without defenseman Cole Hutson (Washington Capitals) and forward Max Plante (Detroit Red Wings), who are each day to day. Hutson was removed from the ice on a stretcher during a 2-1 win against Switzerland on Saturday after being hit in the back of the head by a puck and Plante missed the third period of a 6-5 win against Slovakia on Monday.

Motzko said postgame that there was a “really good chance” that Hutson returns to the lineup against Finland on Friday (6 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).

Sweden will face off against Latvia in the quarterfinal round on Friday (2 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).