Michael Bunting and Team Canada will play Erik Karlsson, Marcus Pettersson and Sweden for a bronze medal on Sunday to close out the World Championship in Czechia on Sunday after both teams were upset in their respective semifinal games.
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Canada and Sweden were the top teams of their respective groups following the preliminary games, with both teams going undefeated -- Sweden won all seven games in regulation to finish with all 21 possible points in the standings and was dominant -- Sweden never trailed at any point in any game, and never allowed more than two goals in a single game. Canada finished with 19 points after squandering a point in each of its overtime wins in the IIHF's system that rewards teams more heavily for regulation wins.
Sweden defeated Finland in the quarterfinal round with a 2-1 overtime victory, then fell to the host nation Czechia with a 7-3 loss on Saturday. Karlsson went scoreless in the loss, while Pettersson scored Sweden's second goal:
Canada earned its bid to the semifinal round with a 6-3 victory over Slovakia, then lost 3-2 in a shootout to Switzerland on Saturday. Bunting was scoreless in the loss and did not shoot in the shootout.
Sweden and Canada will play for bronze at 9:20 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. Switzerland and Czechia will go for gold at 2:20 p.m. after. Neither team has any Penguins players or prospects, but Czechia has two former Penguins connections in defensemen Jan Rutta and Libor Hajek, the latter attending the NHL training camp last season and signing an AHL contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before being granted a release in December to return home to Czechia.
