Gustavsson 'huge' save allows Sweden to get to OT against Canada

MONTREAL -- Sam Hallam had a message for goalie Filip Gustavsson following Sweden’s 4-3 overtime loss to Canada in the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre on Wednesday.

“I just told him after the game, that save with a couple of minutes left, that gave us a chance to win the game,” Sweden’s coach said. “It was huge.”

The save Hallam was referring to was Gustavsson’s blocker stop on Canada defenseman Devon Toews at 11:06 of the third period. Sweden had battled back from 3-1 deficit to pull even on third-period goals from Adrian Kempe (1:54) and Joel Eriksson Ek (8:59), but Toews appeared in position to give Canada the lead back when Connor McDavid fed him from the right circle for an open shot from the slot.

Gustavsson anticipated the play and slid to his right in time to make the save and keep the score tied, helping Sweden earn a point with the overtime loss.

“They slide it down to McDavid there and then he’s just holding the puck,” Gustavsson said. “I just try and get over as much as I can, and I got piece of it on the blocker there.”

Gustavsson finished the game with 24 saves, including seven in overtime before Mitch Marner scored the winning goal at 6:06.

“He was unreal,” Sweden forward Lucas Raymond said. “I think he was the one who gave us a point with some huge saves early on in the game, continuing all the way through. Huge part of tonight.”

With little help from his team in front of him early, Gustavsson found himself in a 2-0 hole by 13:15 of the first period. Canada cashed in on an early power play with Sidney Crosby setting up Nathan MacKinnon’s goal from the bottom of the right circle at 56 seconds with a blind backhand pass from the right side of the net.

“I think it’s unlucky it goes through (Sweden defenseman Mattias) Ekholm there,” Gustavsson said. “He slides there, and it goes through under him. You never know if Crosby is going to do a backhand straight up under the bar there, so you have to care for him and it goes through to MacKinnon there and it’s tough to get over.”

Gustavsson was equally helpless to stop Brad Marchand’s goal on a 2-on-1 rush with Brayden Point that made it 2-0 at 13:15. But he was undeterred and held the fort long enough for Sweden to regroup and battle back.

“He was calm,” Hallam said. “I mean, it’s easy when things go your way. When you start giving up a goal less than a minute into the game, then they’re up 2-0, with really poor support in front of him, and just keeping his calm.

“I think he pretty much stands for how the whole team handled the situation.”

Defenseman Jonas Brodin has seen that kind of performance from Gustavsson before playing with him on the Minnesota Wild. The 26-year-old is 22-11-3 with a 2.63 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and three shutouts in 37 games with Minnesota this season.

“I mean in overtime there, he had some really good saves, even in the whole game,” Brodin said. “He’s an unbelievable goalie, I’m so happy for him. He was great for us today.

“He’s just so calm out there, he so relaxed and has a lot of confidence. It looks easy for him for sure.”

Gustavsson made four saves on MacKinnon alone during the 3-on-3 overtime, when Canada seemed to come at him in waves at times, putting out a power trio of MacKinnon, McDavid and Cale Makar for two shifts.

“He made a lot of big saves, and it took five or six to finally bury one on him,” Canada goalie Jordan Binnington said. “He was playing well. Kudos to him and for our team for being relentless and getting the job done.”

Although Gustavsson wasn’t satisfied with the overtime loss, he took pride in how he and his teammates pulled together after a rough start to prove it can go toe-to-toe with Canada.

“We started a little on the heels there,” Gustavsson said. “We got a PK right away there and they score right away, so starting 0-1 is tough. Then, I thought we started to take over more and more and shut down their good players. … After the first 10 minutes, I thought we right with them the whole game.”