Tre Kronor's men led 5–2 and the clock was ticking down towards the final whistle when Detroit star Lucas Raymond committed an unnecessary penalty against a Slovakian player.
With only 39 seconds left in the match, Slovakia reduced the deficit to 5–3 through Dalibor Dvorsky, formerly of AIK and Oskarshamn, during the ensuing power play.
It's never fun. You hope they kill the penalty and then you can close the match, says Raymond, who did not want to comment on the sending-off situation itself.
It is what it is. You never want to take penalties.
National team captain Sam Hallam:
It's unnecessary. Lucas has to own it. We're together as a team, we'll protect Lucas in that, but it's costing us. Then I think the discipline overall today...we need to take fewer penalties.
Sweden took a total of seven penalties in the match.
Raymond had his best game in the Olympics so far, accounting for one goal and two assists.
It's getting better and better with every game. I felt better today, and as a team we came out strong and played well for 60 minutes. We have to build on that.
Regarding the fact that Sweden will probably have to play an extra playoff match, a round of 16 - unless Italy beats Finland on points - he says:
We're either playing a round of 16 or a quarter-final and have to win to advance. We're loaded and ready.
