ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ivar Stenberg scored two points and scored the winning goal with 3:57 left in the third period as Sweden beat Slovakia 3-2 in the opening match of the 2026 World Youth Championship.
Stenberg was assisted by Eddie Genborg, who scored a goal from the left against Slovakia's Alan Lendak.
Anton Frondell also scored two points for Sweden, scoring the first goal and assisting Viktor Eklund for the second.
After a scoreless first period, the Swedes used a pair of power plays to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. Frondell scored the first goal at the 9:05 mark, finishing from the center of the faceoff circle with help from Alfons Frey and Stenberg. More than four minutes later, Frondell and Jack Berglund assisted Eklund with a goal from outside the box.
Slovakia responded late in the period with a power play goal of their own for a 5–3 man advantage. Tomas Pobesal, with the help of Alex Misiak, cut the gap in half with five seconds left in the period. It came seconds after Pobesal hit the post and it was the fourth time Slovakia had hit the post at that point.
Less than five minutes into the third period, Viggo Björk scored a shorthanded goal for Sweden. He took the puck from behind his blue line and beat Alan Lendak, but collided with Lendak and a Slovakian challenge resulted in the goal being cleared off the board due to goaltender interference.
In the third period, Sweden's turnover in front of their own goal ended with a shot off the stick of Tobias Pitka, who passed the puck to Tobias Tomic to tie the game at 9:05 of the period.
Slovakia have not beaten Sweden since the bronze medal match at the 2015 World Junior Championships. Both of these teams will continue play in Group A at the weekend, with Slovakia taking on Germany on Saturday and Sweden taking on Switzerland on Sunday.
