2019 IIHF World Junior Championship

FORMENTON GETS WINNER, CANADA TOPS SWEDES AT SHOWCASE

JASON LA ROSE

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Alex Formenton (King City, Ont./London, OHL) capped a wild final minute of the second period with the game-winning goal, sending Canada to a 4-1 win over Sweden on Friday night at the Sport Chek World Junior Showcase.

After more than 39 minutes without a goal, the teams scored three in 45 seconds to finish the middle frame.

Jared McIsaac (Truro, N.S./Halifax, QMJHL) was first, getting a shot through traffic and past Swedish netminder Olle Eriksson Ek with 47.9 seconds remaining, only for Marcus Sylvegard to take advantage of a broken play and beat Canadian goaltender Michael DiPietro (Amherstburg, Ont./Windsor, OHL) only 16 seconds later.

Formenton beat the buzzer to restore the red-and-white advantage, streaking down the left wing and going post and in to the far side of Eriksson Ek with just 2.3 ticks to go.

Both teams picked up the offence in the third period; after combining for 29 in the first 40 minutes (16-13 in favour of the Canadians), there were 30 in the third period alone – 16-14 Canada.

MacKenzie Entwistle (Georgetown, Ont./Hamilton, OHL) doubled the lead early in the final stanza, finding a loose puck in front and lifting the 3-1 goal over Eriksson Ek, and Joël Teasdale (Beloeil, Que./Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL) hit the empty net in the final minute to finish the scoring.

Matthew Villalta (Godfrey, Ont./Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) got the start in the Canadian goal, stopping all eight shots he faced in 29 minutes of work. DiPietro turned away 18 of 19 the rest of the way.

Showcase closes Saturday with a pair of games; Canada is up first against the United States (2 p.m. PT), followed by a Scandinavian showdown between Sweden and Finland (5 p.m. PT).