Nylander gave Sweden the 3-2 lead at 16:46 of the second period by picking up a loose puck on the side of the net and lifting it past Clara into an open net. It was the first Olympic goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs forward, whose status for the game was unclear after missing practice on Tuesday.
“He was great, no doubt about it he was great,” Landeskog said about Nylander. “He always amazes me by the way he’s able to escape pressure and hold onto pucks and creating scoring chances on his own. It’s impressive, but that’s what elite players do.”
Clara kept it a one-goal game when he robbed Elias Pettersson on a breakaway with a left skate save at 4:28 of third period. He left the game shortly after and was replaced by Fadani.
Zibanejad made it 4-2 Sweden at 15:42, using Pettersson as a screen and beating Fadani with a long-distance wrist shot from near the blue line.
Hedman scored into an empty net at 17:11 for the 5-2 final.
Next up for Sweden is a game with rival Finland on Friday at Santagiulia Arena (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI TOU.TV, CBC Gem, TSN, RDS). Finland lost its opener 4-1 to Slovakia earlier Wednesday.
“There are some things to clean up, but that’s to be expected,” Landeskog said. “I thought it was a hard-fought game. They were the host nation and I guess you can call it a home opener. We knew they were going to work hard and play us hard as competitors. It was a fun game.”
NOTES: Sweden’s 60 shots on goal were the most ever by a team in an Olympic Winter Games with NHL players. … Dahlin’s three assists tied Daniel Alfredsson (three assists on Feb. 22, 2006) for the most by a Swedish player in an Olympic game with NHL players. … With his one goal, Nylander matched his father, Michael Nylander, who had one goal through two Olympic appearances (1998, 2002). … Frigo became the first Italian player to score in the Olympics since Tony Iob did on Feb. 21, 2006 against Switzerland.