Canada drops heartbreaker to Sweden

It was a battle of two teams expected to finish in the medals at the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championships.

Sweden scored four times in the third period which was topped off by a Tobias Forsberg goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation time to give Sweden a 4-3 victory.

Brad Marchand gave the Canadian team a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the opening period. Swedish goaltender Jhonas Enroth was strong in the period stopping Steven Stamkos twice and also made key stops on Kyle Turris and Claude Giroux. Canadian goaltender Jonathan Bernier also made some key saves in the period to keep the game close.

After a scoreless second period that saw Sweden take the play to the Canadians and outshot Canada12-5, Shawn Matthias gave Canada a 2-0 lead just 2:17 into the third period when he converted a feed from Matt Halischuk in the slot. Sweden was unfazed by the Canadian lead as they scored three goals in just under four minutes to take a 3-2 lead. Eric Moe, Tony Lagerstrom, and Oscar Moeller scored to give the Swedes the lead. Claude Giroux tied the game on a 5-on-3 with under four minutes remaining to set up the heroics by Forsberg.

A Swedish win over the Czech Republic on Monday would send them directly into the semi-finals while Canada needs a win over Denmark on Monday and help in order to even have a chance at heading directly into the semi-finals.

Game time on Monday for Canada is noon eastern time.