A strong Swedish start secured the WC victory against Finland

On Sunday afternoon, the Swedish players were back on the ice in the WC arena in Herning, Denmark, and after the opening loss, Swedish national team captain Erika Holst had made some changes in both chains and back pair. It turned out to be a wise move.

Because after the weak and shaky start against Canada, the Swedish team started with significantly more energy against Finland. Something that paid dividends already in the fifth minute of the match when Ida Karlsson gave Sweden the lead with 1–0.

After that goal, the Women's Crowns increased the tempo further, and the Finnish players initially found it difficult to handle the combination of speed and physical play. When Sweden got the chance to play a power play in the eighth minute, the 2-0 goal was scored by Hilda Svensson.

Finland, however, worked their way into the match, and before the first period was over they had several chances to reduce but Ebba Svensson Träff in the Swedish goal took care of the pucks.

- We have a really good first period, especially the first half. After that we gave them a little too much time, said goal scorer Hilda Svensson to SVT.

In the middle period, Finland continued the same way they ended the first period. The women's crowns' goalkeeper Ebba Svensson Träff had to work hard, and she was the single biggest reason why the game-wise better Finland did not get a reduction puck in despite a clear game-wise advantage.

- We were a bit repressed throughout this period, stated Maja Nylén Persson in an interview with SVT.

In other words, nothing was decided before the final period, but when Sara Hjalmarsson increased the Swedish lead to 3-0 in the seventh minute, Sweden had gained a solid grip on the match.

However, the Finnish team had by no means given up.

When Petra Nieminen just over two minutes after Hjalmarsson's goal reduced the score to 3–1, they got new energy. With just over three minutes remaining, Finland picked out their goalkeeper in search of another goal.

It didn't help though. Instead, WC debutant 18-year-old Tilde Grillfors was able to secure the Swede when she scored 4-1 in an empty goal cage.

On Tuesday, Sweden meets host nation Denmark in the third group stage match.