Sweden had to battle for a 5-2 win against Italy to open the tournament. The home team got stellar goaltending, as it was tied or within one goal for most of the game despite Sweden finishing with 60 shots. That is the most ever by a team in a Winter Olympics contested with NHL players.
Erik Karlsson got an assist on Sweden’s first goal of the tournament after being responsible for Sweden’s last goal at an Olympics featuring NHL players. While quarterbacking Sweden’s second power-play unit, he sent a pass over to Mika Zibanejad, who found Gabriel Landeskog. He fired a shot through traffic, with Rickard Rakell at the netfront.
Rakell had factored in on the play as well, working the puck to Karlsson down at the blue line before heading to the blue paint to help provide a screen for his longtime friend, Landeskog. Both players are from Stockholm, with Landeskog a year older than Rakell. They had the same agent growing up, so they worked out together in the offseasons. “We would spend our whole summers together,” Rakell said.
And Landeskog ended up influencing Rakell’s decision to play junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League, where he joined the Plymouth Whalers.
“Gabe was playing in Kitchener at the time. Us being good friends, I mean, he was loving it,” Rakell said. “There were not many Europeans back then who were Swedish players who came over at that time. So, I thought I’d give it a shot. If I didn’t like it. I was just gonna go home. But then I ended up staying for three years, and yeah, that turned out to be the right decision for me.”
Rakell was drafted by Anaheim in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft. The following year, the Ducks selected Hampus Lindholm sixth overall. The Swedes became buddies, with Lindholm standing up in Rakell’s wedding. Now, they are rooming together in Milan. As Karlsson said, one of the things he was most looking forward to about this tournament was, “I think just being around people that you’ve known for a very long time, and speaking your native tongue on a regular basis.”
Rakell registered an assist of his own late in the third period. It was a secondary helper on Zibanejad’s goal. Next up for Sweden is a game versus Finland on Friday at 3:10 PM, which will air on Peacock.