MONTREAL — Team Sweden will let Gus drive the Bus.
With the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off set to get underway on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre, Sweden has opted to give Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson the start against Team Canada.
Coach Sam Hallam opted to go with Gustavsson ahead of Ottawa Senators veteran goalie Linus Ullmark in this pivotal game. The Swedes lost New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom to injury before the tourney.
“Gus is our guy tonight,” Hallam said Wednesday morning. “We’ve known for a while that he’s just on the verge of breaking through — time, confidence and good people around him. He was our goalie coming into this tournament, we know his history, he’s in a good place and feeling good about his game.”
The 26-year-old Gustavsson has a 2.63 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage this season.
“It’s a big honour,” Gustavsson said. “You compete to play for the national team and then you have a 4 Nations against the best players and you get a chance to be on the team. I’m just going to enjoy it and do the best I can.”
Hallam said it’s not easy to tell players like Calgary defenceman Rasmus Andersson and Ullmark they’re not playing.
“It’s pretty clear coming into a tournament like this there are great players that don’t get opportunities to be here at all, so just being here is an achievement,” Hallam said. “In the case of Linus Ullmark, he’s shown before that brotherhood he has with his goalie friends and he wants to do what’s best for the team.
“We had a short talk yesterday and I gave him the news. He took it very well and professionally. If it’s not starting tonight, it could be Saturday or Monday so he gets a couple of extra days to work on his game.
“The same goes for the other two scratches tonight., It’s a tough decision, this is what I based it on and I hope you do what you need to do and be prepared.
“We could have one guy slip in the shower so just be ready.”
Sweden will face Team Finland on Saturday at 1 p.m.