Sweden Shut Out Slovenia 6-0 to Climb Group B

Sweden delivered their most complete performance of the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship with a 6-0 win over Slovenia at BCF Arena in Fribourg on Wednesday night. 4,814 fans saw Tre Kronor outshoot Slovenia 45-16 and lift themselves into the Group B quarterfinal places.

How it unfolded

Sweden opened the scoring at 3:26 of the first period when Lucas Raymond finished from Carl Grundstrom and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The score held until late in the period: Jacob de la Rose buried his first at 19:07 from Linus Karlsson and Mattias Ekholm, sending Sweden into the first intermission up 2-0 despite a 14-4 shot advantage.

The second period was a Swedish avalanche. De la Rose struck again at 25:55 from Karlsson, and Robert Hagg made it 4-0 just 63 seconds later (26:58) from Ekman-Larsson and Anton Frondell. Raymond capped his brace on the power play at 31:38 from Ekman-Larsson and Ivar Stenberg to make it 5-0. Mattias Ekholm sealed the scoring at 37:23 from Frondell and Simon Holmstrom for a 6-0 lead heading into the final twenty.

The third period was a closeout shift. Slovenia's Zan US held the fort with 14 saves, and Sweden ran the clock toward Soderblom's clean sheet.

Goaltenders and shots

Arvid Soderblom earned the shutout for Sweden with 16 saves on 16 shots in his tournament debut. Slovenia's Zan US took the loss with 39 saves on 45 shots in a busy night between the pipes. Ekman-Larsson finished with 0+3, Raymond 2+0, de la Rose 2+0, and Frondell 0+2.

Coming up

Sweden climb to 6 points and a +7 differential, vaulting into fourth place in Group B on goals for tied with Norway. Slovenia drop to 3 points with a -10 differential and now face an uphill quarterfinal climb. Sweden are back in action Friday against Italy at BCF Arena at 16:20 CET, while Slovenia face Denmark on Friday at 20:20 CET in a basement clash.