In an unexpected matchup between the Nordic co-hosts, Sweden defeated underdog Denmark 6-2 in Sunday’s bronze medal game at the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Tre Kronor blew the game open with three second-period goals to claim its second bronze in as many years.
Mikael Backlund and Marcus Johansson both scored twice. Lucas Raymond and Mika Zibanejad added singles. Elias Lindholm assisted on both of Backlund's goals, which came 4:34 apart midway through the second period to give Sweden a 2-0 lead. Lindholm finished with a team-high 14 points.
Sunday's result applies a little balm to Sweden's wounds. It's naturally disappointing not to win gold in Stockholm with a stacked roster, as Tre Kronor famously did in 2013 to break the 27-year-old "home-ice curse."
"It's been an unreal experience, playing in front of your home country fans with family and friends in the stands," said Raymond. "It's been amazing. But obviously it's tough to look back and not feel disappointed. That's the reality. That's hockey, and we move on."
For Denmark, Nick Olesen had a goal and an assist, and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored.
"We gave everything we had, there’s nothing more in the tank," said Denmark's Morten Poulsen. "Every Danish player has left everything he’s got. We’re completely empty."
The Cinderela Danes were outscored 13-2 in their last two playoff games. Still, coming fourth goes down as a special milestone in their sports history.
The Danes have never finished higher than eighth at an IIHF WM before (2010, 2016). Pre-tournament, another quarter-final exit was widely seen as their best-case scenario, especially without NHL mainstays like goalie Frederik Andersen (Carolina) and forwards Lars Eller (Washington) and Oliver Bjorkstrand (Tampa Bay).
Sweden outshot Denmark 37-18, including an 18-4 gap in the middle frame.
"In some ways, yesterday [the 7-0 semi-final loss to Switzerland] was more disappointing," said Denmark's Nicklas Jensen. "Today, we battled hard. We know they’re going to be more on the puck and be better defensively, and today we can be proud. In general, we can be very proud of the tournament we put together."
Swedish coach Sam Hallam opted to start backup Samuel Ersson, who replaced number one man Jacob Markstrom to start the third period of the 6-2 semi-final loss to the Americans. The Philadelphia Flyers netminder was solid for his fourth win of 2025. Meanwhile, Danish goalie Frederik Dichow got his ninth start in 10 games.
After a scoreless first period to Denmark's liking, the top Swedish aces picked it up early in the second. If it wasn't Raymond ringing a shot off the post, it was William Nylander dangling through the Danish defence for an in-tight chance.
Tre Kronor finally cashed in off a faceoff in the Danish end. After Elias Lindholm won the draw, blueliner Adam Larsson cruised into the right faceoff circle and fed Backlund on the door step for a 1-0 lead at 5:16.
Backlund doubled the lead at 9:50 with a shot from the left faceoff circle that squeezed past the Danish goalie, who was deep in his net and would like to have had it back.
Johansson made it 3-0 on a play similar to Backlund's opening marker. Off a faceoff, Leo Carlsson found Rasmus Sandin, and he set up Johansson for an easy back-door goal at 17:09.
"I think we came out in the second and started shooting a lot and got rewarded and started to create second opportunities as well," Raymond said. "Once we got that going, our game kind of just fell into place."
In the first minute of the third period, the Danes got a glimmer of hope when Ehlers found Philip Bruggisser cruising into the high slot and he beat Ersson with a high shot. However, video review overturned the goal due to goaltender interference.
Raymond stole the puck at the Swedish blue line and raced in on a breakaway to beat Dichow five-hole at 2:55.
Twenty seconds later, Olesen broke Ersson's shutout bid with a rising laser from the left faceoff dot. Olesen also scored the deciding shootout goal versus Germany in the preliminary round and the late winner against Canada in the quarter-final.
The attempted Danish fightback continued. Olesen sent a diagonal pass to Ehlers at the crease and the puck bounced in off his skate to cut the deficit to 4-2 at 6:02.
On ther power play, Johansson scored on a goal-crease scrum at 8:25 to dampen Danish optimism. Zibanejad finished off a nice passing play on the rush at 15:03 to round out the scoring with his fifth goal of this WM.
"It was disappointing that we lost last night, but it would've been even worse had we not won today," said Carlsson after the first all-Nordic medal game in IIHF history that did not pit Sweden versus Finland.
The Swedes also won bronze last year in Prague with a 4-2 decision over Canada. Sweden owns 19 WM bronze medals in total.
Sweden went without forward Filip Forsberg, who had one goal and three assists through the first nine games. However, the Nashville Predators star’s absence didn't hamper them much.
The Danes, before stunning Canada for an historic 2-1 quarter-final victory, had only one WM win against the motherland of hockey: a 3-2 preliminary-round decision at the 2022 tournament in Finland with Ehlers potting the winner.
Raymond complimented the Danes: "It's an unbelievable achievement. Playing against that Canadian team, beating them on home ice, I think that's unbelievable. Probably one of the greatest Cinderella story games that I can remember."
Denmark came into Sunday with just one win in 13 previous tries against Sweden: a 4-3 upset at the 2021 WM in Latvia, powered by Nicklas Jensen’s hat trick. However, the red-and-white team was out of miracles now.
It remains to be seen when Denmark will make it this deep again. This is the tournament’s oldest team with an average age of 30. While there are some promising youngsters like forward Oscar Moelgaard (a 2024 second-round pick for Seattle), the squad's core will need to be remade in years ahead. Still, nothing can take the shine off what coach Mikael Gath’s troops achieved in 2025.
"This result, combined with the fact that we had it on home ice and got to showcase hockey at such a high level, obviously helps," said Oliver Lauridsen. "Hopefully it inspires a lot of young people to want to go to the rinks and start skating, so we can create even more talent with the few players that we have."
