Sweden had to dig deep to see off a battling Japanese team in its final group game in Vantaa. Down 1-3 and 3-4, the Swedes faced the prospect of dropping to the foot of Group A, but Edit Danielsson’s second of the game forced a tie before Ebba Hesselvall potted an overtime winner.

The goals and the excitement kept on coming on the final day of Women's U18 World Championship group stage action. After Switzerland's stunning 5-3 win over Slovakia, Japan came agonisingly close to securing a victory that could take off the foot of the standings. But Sweden fought back to force the extras and, with just 11 seconds on the clock, Hesselvall settled a pulsating game. She was first to react after Ebba Westerlind's shot came back off the piping, and her angled shot finally ended Japan's brave resistance. 

Despite the win, Sweden wasn't entirely happy with itsperformance.

“It wasn’t our best game, but it's nice to win," Danielsson said. "In the quarterfinal, we have to be ready from the start.”

And head coach Andreas Karlsson was even less impressed.

“This wasn't good enough, I’m really disappointed. We just weren’t there, we didn’t skate,” he said.

“We knew Japan was a team with a lot of speed, but we were a little deliberate. We were a little out of sync.”

Sweden thought it had the perfect start with a goal inside 90 seconds. However, Hesselvall’s stick was high when she batted Tilde Grillfors’ looping shot past Haruka Korumaru and a video review called back the play. But the next review went in the Swedes’ favour, awarding Danielsson the opening goal on 12:30. The play was another redirect, this time off Lovisa Engstrom’s shot, and Danielsson took up a perfect position on the slot before getting her stick down to steer the puck home.
 

Neither team generated much offence in the opening frame, but when Grillfors took the first penalty of the game, Japan seized its moment. Koko Ruike’s point shot skipped through traffic as fellow defender Lily Sato made a nuisance of herself on the slot.

That gave the Japanese a big boost and they started the second period strongly. Within 30 seconds of the restart, Reina Kakuta made it 2-1, putting away the rebound after Kika Terauchi’s shot was padded away. Then came a good look for Nana Akimoto, denied by Jorinde Heller in the Swedish net. However, Heller might feel she could have done more as Nanaho Yamagutchi potted a second power play goal of the night. The goaltender got a glove to it, but the shot wobbled over the line to make it 3-1 in the 25th minute.

Japan twice led before falling to Finland in the previous game and that experience may have contributed to a swift collapse midway through the second period. An untimely penalty on Yuna Baba set up the Swedish power play, and Matilda Ostermann smoked a shot from the top of the right-hand circle and in off the post. Barely a minute later, it was 3-3. A well-worked play saw Ebba Westerlind find Tilda Edsman beside the net. The angle was too tight for a shot, but Linn Mattsson was well placed in front of the net and shovelled home the feed to tie the game.

For Japanese head coach Yujiro Kasahara, the loss of another lead was a reflection of his team's limited experience. 

“We don't get to play against European teams often, we only made one trip to Europe in November, so we play against high school and university teams at home,” he said.

“We’re not used to having a lead in the game, now we had it in both games. We just have to learn to close out the games.”

Maybe that quick turnaround persuaded the Swedes that the game was back under their control. If so, they faced a rude awakening. An untimely penalty on Meja Andersson invited Japan back onto the offensive. The penalty kill held on this time, but just as Andersson returned from the box, everyone in a yellow jersey lost track of Nana Akimoto in the left-hand circle. Umeka Odaira didn’t, and her pass set up Akimoto to spin and lift a backhand shot to restore Japan’s lead.

Sweden had allowed as many goals in two periods against Japan as it had in two games against Finland and the USA. Moreover, Karlsson's team had to come from behind once more to avoid finishing fourth in Group A and facing a potential quarter-final against Canada. Japan was 20 minutes from recording its first group-stage win at a World Championship since 2010 and securing third place in the group.

A tense third period saw the Japanese take the early initiative when Osterman's illegal hit gave the outsider an early power play. But the crucial penalty came midway through the session. Odaira sat for hooking and Danielsson's second of the game tied it up at 4-4.

“I thought we stood still so I wanted to move around, and then I saw that their box had collapsed and decided to shoot," the forward said of her tying goal.

Japan needed a win in regulation to clinch third place, and pulled Kuromaru from her net in the last minute to try to force the issue. However, there was no way through and the game went to overtime.

In the extras, Danielsson made another huge contribution seconds after the restart, batting the puck off the line after the exciting Odaira carved through the defence and threatened to loop her shot over Heller. And that save was rewarded by Hesselvall's game-winning strike.