Vancouver Canucks defenceman Marcus Pettersson is leaving the 2025 IIHF World Championship with a bronze medal.
Pettersson and Sweden took on Denmark on Sunday in the bronze medal match. Whatever magic Denmark discovered to get them past Canada in the quarterfinals ran out in the medal round, as they followed up their 7-0 loss to Switzerland in the semifinals with a 6-2 loss to Sweden.
To Denmark's credit, they kept things close through 20 minutes, playing a smothering style that limited the Swedes to just six shots in the first period, even if it meant they had just four shots themselves. They had to feel good about going into the first intermission tied at 0-0.
Sweden took over in the second period, however, outshooting Denmark 18-to-4 and opening up a 3-0 lead.
Mikael Backlund kicked off the scoring with a tap-in goal off a lovely backdoor pass from Adam Larsson. Then, Backlund made it 2-0 a few minutes later, finishing off a feed from Emil Heineman from a bad angle. Marcus Johansson wrapped up the second period scoring with a one-timer off a slick Rasmus Sandin setup.
Phillip Bruggisser seemed to respond a minute into the third period to give Denmark some life, but the goal was erased by a coach's challenge for goaltender interference, as Swedish netminder Samuel Ersson was bumped in the crease by Joachim Blichfeld.
By the time Denmark got on the board, Lucas Raymond had already made it 4-0 for Sweden with a shorthanded goal on a breakaway. That was the backbreaker for Denmark, because even though Nick Olesen scored later on that same power play, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored another a few minutes later on a fortunate deflection off his skate, they were still down by two.
A power play goal by Johansson on a rebound and a late goal by Mika Zibanejad put the game away for good.
Pettersson played on the third pairing in the bronze medal game with Adam Larsson, finishing sixth in ice time among Swedish defencemen with 17:59. He was on the ice for three of Sweden's six goals, all at even-strength, to give him a team-high plus-3 plus/minus, even if he didn't record a single point. He finishes the tournament with 4 points, all assists, in 10 games.
It's the second bronze medal in back-to-back years for Pettersson and Sweden.
