2018 Olympic Winter Games (Men)

CANADA DOWNS SWEDEN TO FINISH PRE-OLYMPIC PLAY

JASON LA ROSE

INCHEON, South Korea - Christian Thomas (Toronto, Ont./Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, AHL) scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period, and Canada's Men's Olympic Team finished a perfect pre-tournament schedule with a 4-1 victory over Sweden on Monday.

The Canadians won all three of their match-ups ahead of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, besting Latvia, Belarus and the Swedes by a combined 8-1.

Dick Axelsson was first onto the scoreboard, beating Canadian goaltender Ben Scrivens (Spruce Grove, Alta./Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL) at 12:28 of the first period; it marked the first time in pre-tournament play Canada had conceded a goal.

Mat Robinson (Calgary, Alta./CSKA Moscow, KHL) got it back for the Canadians before the horn sounded to end the opening frame, making good on a power play to send the teams to the dressing room tied 1-1.

Canada had the only two goals in a penalty-filled second period; Thomas gave the red-and-white its first lead with an unassisted effort at 7:43 before René Bourque (Lac La Biche, Alta./Djurgårdens IF, SHL) added insurance five minutes later.

Wojtek Wolski (Toronto, Ont./Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL) scored the lone goal of the third period to provide the final margin of victory.

Scrivens gave up just the single goal in 40 minutes of work before giving way to Kevin Poulin (Montreal, Que./EHC Kloten, NLA), who was perfect in the third period.

Canada now turns its attention towards a third-consecutive Olympic gold medal; it opens its tournament against Switzerland on Thursday (7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT).