Captain Rasmus Andersson, Anton Bengtsson, Lucas Raymond and Adam Larsson all scored their first goals in the tournament.
Mika Zibanejad scored his fourth goal, assisted by a Latvian skate, and Elias Lindholm scored his second goal in front of a sold-out Globen.
Sweden leads the group with maximum 12 points after four matches, and it seems that it will be a battle with Canada (nine points after three matches) for the group victory.
Zibanejad was pleased with the team's patience.
We have power play in the first period, we don't score. It's easy to get frustrated, but we fight on. In the second, we score two goals in 12 seconds and the shoulders drop, he says to Viaplay.
After the initial three victories – most recently 2–1 in the rivalry match against Finland – Latvia stood for the opposition, the Baltic country that shocked Tre Kronor in the VM quarterfinals two years ago and won at home in Riga.
Missed Chances
The Latvians took three penalties for tripping in the first period at the Globen and gave Tre Kronor a golden opportunity for a leading goal.
But the power play was not sharp enough, and the Latvians rode out the storm.
The match was reminiscent of the Saturday match between Sweden and Austria. The Latvians closed in front of the goal, and the Swedes' shots from outside were not sharp enough to outsmart goalkeeper Kristers Gudlevskis, Modo's qualifying hero two years ago.
Then captain Rasmus Andersson took matters into his own hands.
"It was about time"
After a little more than half the match, he took the puck directly after the face-off, went around the Latvian goal and lifted in the leading goal in the far corner.
It was nice, it was about time. Felt it was time to do something, he says to Viaplay about his first VM goal in his career.
Then it only took 12 seconds before it happened again.
The Latvians lost people in front of their own goal, and Anton Bengtsson, the Rögle forward who is the only SHL player in the VM squad, could slam in 2–0.
The second period ended with hot feelings and a commotion that Rasmus Andersson was involved in.
There are feelings, it's how it should be, he says.
Sweden changed goalkeepers, and Samuel Ersson, who also guarded the cage against Austria, played his second match.
Jacob Markström, the New Jersey star who has only let in one goal in two matches, got a break, and third goalkeeper Arvid Söderblom, Chicago, sat on the bench.
Always fun to keep a clean sheet, extra fun to do it in front of the home crowd, says Ersson.
In the third period, Sweden scored four goals and pulled away to a big victory.
May 9: Sweden–Slovakia 5–0.
May 10: Sweden–Austria 4–2.
May 12: Finland–Sweden 1–2.
May 14: Latvia–Sweden 0–6.
May 16: Sweden–Slovenia (20.20).
May 17: France–Sweden (16.20).
May 20: Sweden–Canada (20.20).
The quarterfinals will be played on May 22, the semifinals on May 24, and the medal matches on May 25.
