31-31 against the Icelanders in Kristianstad on Thursday turned into a narrow victory two days later in Malmö.
Albin Lagergren scored 25-23, and then goalkeeper Andreas Palicka saved a free shot. In the last second, Eric Johansson made it 26-24.
Clearly better than the previous match, we're taking small steps all the time. There are quite a few new players and we haven't quite found the timing in our combinations, says veteran Palicka to SVT.
"Stycket" goal scorer
Another experienced national team player entered the action on Saturday afternoon.
Andreas "Stycket" Nilsson, with 154 A-national team appearances and 350 goals, joined as late as Friday evening's training, hastily called up since Max Darj got injured. Nilsson contributed to the match against Iceland with his 351st goal for the national team.
It's tough for us that Darj disappears and we have to call up "Stycket" who is on vacation with his family in Sälen, says Apelgren to SVT.
Knee-injured Darj is the second midfielder in the national team to miss the World Championship. In December, Oscar Bergendahl injured his foot. He has been replaced by Olle Forsell Schefvert.
The latter's collaboration with Jonathan Carlsbogård pleased Michael Apelgren.
We feel that we're getting a sense of this. If we can get this together as a group, it feels much better than when we found out about Darj.
I think it worked well, says Carlsbogård to SVT.
Sandell gave a scare
The national team coach and others got a slight scare when Lukas Sandell left the court with a painful face eleven minutes into the second half.
It's clear that thoughts come to mind, but when it's a match, you're worried enough as a coach and not so good at thinking about the future and injuries, says Apelgren.
But Sandell returned with a few minutes left and contributed to the victory.
Sweden will play their World Championship premiere in Oslo on Thursday, against Japan.
