Slovakia shocked Sweden when they took the lead after just five minutes with a shot that hit the crossbar. But Blågult quickly recovered and equalized through team captain Tobias Gustafsson.
Slovakia then kept pace with the reigning world champions and after the first period Sweden had a 3-2 lead.
– As always, it’s a World Cup premiere, stressful and boring, if I may say so. Now we can look ahead, says Albin Sjögren.
Then Sweden took over the match picture completely and after 40 minutes they had taken a clear lead with 6-3.
Sweden then continued to dominate and with eight minutes left in the match, Gabriel Kohonen got himself on the scoresheet. The 20-year-old, son of Finnish floorball icon Mika Kohonen, made sure to score his first championship goal in a match that Sweden eventually won 12-4.
– It was a swing mach from us, but we have good players and it will be our top quality that decides, says Kohonen after the match.
The 20-year-old is proud to wear the blue-yellow shirt and at the same time thanks the audience for the support.
– It was nice to push it there, I had missed a few chances before.
As early as tomorrow, Sweden plays again, then Latvia will be the opposition.