LINDBLOM HAS THREE POINTS AGAIN AS SWEDES FINISH PERFECT PRELIMS

DRUMMONDVILLE, Que. – Oskar Lindblom had two goals and an assist for the second day in a row to help Sweden to a 7-4 win over Russia on Tuesday afternoon and a perfect preliminary round record at the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

It’s the first time the Swedes have gone 4-0 in the preliminary round at the tournament, although the 1997 team, led by Daniel and Henrik Sedin, finished 3-0-1 en route to a silver medal (NOTE: standings are unavailable for the 1992 and 1994 events).

August Gunnarsson, Adrian Kempe, Anton Karlsson, Gustaf Franzén and William Nylander Altelius also scored for the Swedes, who flexed their offensive muscle in the prelims, averaging six goals per game.

Karlsson, Franzén and Nylander Altelius also added assists, while Daniel Muzito Bagenda racked up three helpers in the win.

Ivan Nikolishin, Maxim Lazarev, Eduard Nasybullin and Yevgeni Svechnikov had the goals for Russia, which is in danger of missing the semifinals one year after winning the gold medal. The Russians have four points through three games, and would be eliminated if Pacific beats Finland on Tuesday night.

The last defending champion to miss out on the final four was Quebec, which finished seventh in 2008 after winning the gold medal in 2006 (there was no 2007 tournament due to the Canada Winter Games).

While Sweden will wait for the rest of the preliminary round to play itself out, Russia wraps up its round robin schedule against Finland on Wednesday afternoon in Victoriaville (1:30 p.m. ET).