Lassinantti makes 25 saves as Sweden beats the Czech Republic

Joel Lassinantti made 25 saves Wednesday as defending-champion Sweden opened the world junior hockey championship with a 4-1 win over the Czech Republic.

Sebastian Collberg, Elias Lindholm, Filip Sandberg and Filip Forsberg scored for Sweden (1-0), while Mikael Vikstrand added two assists.

Lukas Sedlak had the only goal for the Czech Republic (0-1) while Matej Machovsky stopped 37 shots.

"I liked the way we competed," Swedish coach Roger Ronnberg said. "I liked our PK, the way we were blocking shots, and the way we played without the puck, how we came back on the backcheck. It was good. Offensively, we can for sure still play better."

Pool A action continues for both teams Friday when the Czechs take on Finland (1-0) and the Swedes meet Switzerland (0-0).