Connor Brown scores winner as Canada beats Sweden 5-3 at hockey world championship

FRIBOURG — Connor Brown scored the winning goal in the third period and Canada opened its 2026 world hockey championship with a 5-3 win over Sweden on Friday.

Canada led 2-0 after the first period and 3-2 late in the second, only to find itself in a 3-3 tie after 40 minutes.

But the Canadians went in front for good 3:31 into the third when Brown took a cross-ice pass from Porter Martone and wired a shot past Swedish goalkeeper Magnus Hellberg.

”We had a really good first period, and Sweden pushed hard in the second, but collectively I really liked our third period,” Canada head coach Misha Donskov said. “I liked the way we pushed back and managed the puck to finish the game.

“We are putting our structure and plan in place, and we have not had much time to do that, so we wanted to get the group on the same page quickly and manage the emotions on the bench.”

John Tavares, Ryan O’Reilly, Dylan Holloway and Dylan Cozens also scored for Canada. Martone, Darnell Nurse and Fraser Minten added two assists each.

Jacob Larsson, Lucas Raymond and Mattias Ekholm scored for Sweden.

Jet Greaves stopped 25 shots for Canada, while Hellberg made 26 saves in the Swedish net.


Canada returns to action Saturday against Italy.

“It was a good game. I thought we showed great resiliency by sticking with it when things got tough in the second period,” O’Reilly said.

“It was our first time playing together as a full group, so obviously there are some things we can tighten up, but I thought that was a great game to start our tournament because (the Swedes) are a good team. It was good to have some adversity and find a way to win.”

Tavares opened the scoring 2:21 into the game, then O’Reilly made it 2-0 as Canada had an extra attacker on the ice on a delayed hooking call against Sweden’s Robert Hagg.

Larson cut Canada’s lead to 2-1 at the 8:11 mark f the second period, and Raymond tied it less than three minutes later with Canada defenceman Zach Whitecloud in the penalty box for hooking.

Holloway restored Canada’s lead at 14:16 of the second, but Ekholm tied it again a little over a minute later.

After Brown restored Canada’s lead, Cozens scored an insurance goal with just over seven minutes remaining.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2026.

The Canadian Press