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QUEBEC — Antti Pihlstrom and Janne Niskala scored in the first period and Niklas Backstrom made 36 saves for the shutout as Finland defeated rival Sweden 4-0 on Saturday to win the bronze medal at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.
Pihlstrom added his second of the game and fifth of the tournament in the third period and Mikko Koivu had an empty-net goal for Finland, which was outshot 36-13 before 12,009 spectators at the Pepsi Colisee.
Finland, beaten 4-0 by Russia on Friday in the semifinals, has won a medal at three consecutive world championships, taking silver last year and bronze in 2006.
Sweden, 5-4 losers to Canada in the semifinals, lost a second consecutive world championship bronze medal game after falling 3-1 to Russia in Moscow a year ago. Sweden's fourth place finish in the tournament also puts Canada back into the No.1 spot in IIHF rankings.
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A sleepy first period perked up when Pihlstrom opened the scoring at 11:31, redirecting the puck in from the slot after Niko Kapanen partially fanned on a shot from the left circle.
Stefan Liv, the surprise starter in the Swedish net ahead of Henrik Lundqvist and Mikael Tellqvist, was beaten cleanly on a seeing-eye wrist shot from the point to the top corner by Niskala at 13:44.
The Finns had penalty trouble in the second frame, when they were outshot 11-2, but Backstrom was a wall as he used his glove to sweep away a Tony Martensson shot that was rolling toward the post. Plus, he made a huge pad save on Daniel Fernholm from the doorstep during a 5-on-3 advantage.
The Swedes went 0-for-5 on the power play in the period and 0-for-7 overall.
Only 2:18 into the third frame, Pihlstrom was left alone at the far post to bang in Hannes Hyvnen's pass from the corner. Koivu added a short-handed, empty-net goal with 2:25 left to play.
The last time Sweden and Finland met in a bronze medal game was 2002, when Sweden won 5-3. The two also met in the 2006 Olympic final, with the Swedes again emerging the winner.
Sweden's all-time record in official games against Finland is now 40-16-15. Including exhibition games, it is 151-84-33 since 1928.
