Gustavsson to start for Sweden against Canada at 4 Nations Face-Off opener

MONTREAL -- Filip Gustavsson will start for Sweden against Canada to begin the 4 Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS).

"We've seen for a while, he's just on the verge of breaking through," Sweden coach Sam Hallam said Wednesday. "I guess time, confidence, good people around him, so we're really happy the way he's looked all year and he's our goalie coming into this tournament.

"(He has the) best history coming in, playing regularly, being in a good place and feeling really good about his game. So we're really looking forward and confident in 'Gus' here."

Gustavsson is 22-11-3 with a 2.63 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and three shutouts in 37 games for the Minnesota Wild this season.

"It's a big honor," Gustavsson said. "You compete to play for the national team and then you have a 4 Nations against the best players, and you get a chance to be on the team. I'm just going to enjoy it and do the best I can."

Sweden and Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg said, "(I've) played against him enough in Minnesota. He's stunned us a bunch of times there, so I feel great about him (starting)."

Gustavsson, 26, won silver with Sweden at the 2016 IIHF Under-18 World Championship and the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship, and bronze at the 2024 IIHF World Championship.

He was chosen as Sweden's starter ahead of Linus Ullmark and Samuel Ersson.

Ersson, 25, is 16-10-3 with a 2.81 GAA, .896 save percentage and two shutouts in 31 games (30 starts) for the Philadelphia Flyers this season.

Ullmark, 31, is 12-9-2 with a 2.49 GAA, .915 save percentage and three shutouts in 25 games (24 starts) with the Ottawa Senators. The Vezina Trophy winner as the League's top goalie with the Boston Bruins in 2022-23 missed, he 18 games this season because of a back injury before returning against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 4, making 34 saves in a 4-3 loss.

"He's shown before that love he has for his goalie friends that he wants the best for the team," Hallam said of Ullmark. "We had a short talk yesterday; I gave him the news and he took it very well. Really professional. If he's not starting tonight, he could be Saturday (against Finland), or Monday (against the United States), and he knows that and he gets a couple of extra days to work on his game."