The Tre Kronor beat Denmark, who were playing their first-ever world championship quarter-final, 4-2 in Mannheim. Marcus Nilson broke his world championship scoring dry spell nearly 15 minutes into the game on a power play to start things off for the Swedes.

Denmark played a tight defensive and lined up in the neutral zone to await the Swedish plays. Forwards Jonas Andersson and Rickard Wallin netted one apiece in the second period to give Sweden a commanding 3-0 lead.

The Danes refused to fold like they did in their 10-3 loss to the Tre Kronor in Ängelholm just before the world championship and Jesper Damgaard responded to get Denmark on the board.

In the third period, Linus Omark scored Sweden’s fourth goal, with Denmark’s Morten Madsen scoring the last point of the game with 2 minutes and 25 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Tre Kronor’s semifinal appearance is their 10th in a row at the world championships. The Swedes will play the Czechs on Saturday in Cologne.

“Good. Then we can get our revenge on them,” said Wallin afterward on TV6.

After Slovakia dashed the team’s chances of defending its gold medal in the quarterfinals at the Olympics earlier this year, it became clear early on that this edition of Team Sweden would not do with an indifferent contribution. It appeared from the beginning that the attitude was there.

The Tre Kronor last won a world championship semifinal four years ago in Riga, when head coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson led the team to gold. The team became the first to win both the Winter Olympics and world championship in 2006.