The NHL season may be over for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks, but that hasn't stopped their respective goaltenders from finding success elsewhere.
Denmark's Frederik Andersen (Toronto) and Sweden's Anders Nilsson (Vancouver) backstopped their countries to a pair of wins Wednesday at the IIHF World Championship.
Andersen stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced to lead the host nation to a 3-2 upset win over Finland in front of a joyous home crowd in Herning, Denmark.
Frederik Andersen @f_andersen30 leads Team Denmark @DKIshockey in a salute around the ice on the biggest night of their 2018 #IIHFWorlds tournament. pic.twitter.com/OdKg2IhYMT
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 9, 2018
IIHF World Championship 2018: McDavid leads Canada to 7-1 rout over Denmark
The Danes improved to 1-1-0-2 (W, OTW, OTL, L) in Group B play and handed the Finns (3-0-0-1) their first defeat of the tournament.
Andersen has played a big role in both of Denmark's wins, each of which has come by a 3-2 scoreline. The Leafs' No. 1 netminder made 35 saves in his team's tournament opener against Germany and stopped all five attempts in the game-deciding shootout, which was settled by Frans Nielsen's (Red Wings) tally.
Meanwhile in Group A action, Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson kept his second shutout of the tournament to help Sweden (4-0-0-0) stay perfect in the preliminary round with a 7-0 victory over Austria.
NILLY NILLY 🙌 Another shutout for Nilsson as 🇸🇪 improves to 4-0! #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/J8lFR7szYI
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) May 9, 2018
Nilsson wasn't required to do a whole lot, stopping all 14 of the shots that he faced as the Swedes controlled the contest throughout. The Canucks netminder also made 14 stops in his first start of the tournament Monday, a 4-0 victory over France.
Andersen and Denmark will return to action on Friday against Norway (10:15 a.m. ET), while Nilsson and Sweden wait until Saturday to face Slovakia (6:15 a.m. ET).