The Philadelphia goalkeeper saved 32 of 33 shots when Tre Kronor took their first win in Four Nations, 2–1 over USA.
The match was indeed meaningless in terms of the result, since Sweden had already missed the chance to reach the final.
For Ersson, it meant more.
He entered the tournament as third goalkeeper and leaves it with the best statistics, 97.0 in save percentage.
One step closer to the Olympic Games
A performance that makes him a serious contender for the Olympic Games in a year's time.
The success in Boston came despite a nightmare start.
Already after 35 seconds, USA took the lead through Chris Kreider.
It's clearly a bit tough. But at the same time, as a goalkeeper, you've let in a few goals during your career, so it's just a matter of letting it go and looking forward, he says.
Then Ersson made a series of saves – and had some help from the posts and crossbar too.
I got to see a lot of pucks early in the game and it's quite nice. I got a good flow, you can stop thinking and start playing. It was great, says Ersson.
Ullmark struggling
Originally, Linus Ullmark was supposed to guard the net. Ullmark entered in the second period against Finland after Filip Gustavsson felt unwell.
Now Ullmark was hesitant.
I found out after the morning warm-up. It's almost nice to find out a bit later, you don't have time to get nervous. It was just a matter of going in and doing it. It's great to not just be part of the team but also to get to play a match, says he.
He was praised by his teammates afterwards. Star defender Erik Karlsson says:
Really good. It wasn't the easiest situation with the late notice. He's been ready the whole time and hot in training. I think any of our three goalkeepers here can jump in and win matches for us.
