By Trevor Stynes and Giulio Piovaccari
MILAN, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Sweden's Thea Johansson netted a fourth goal of the Milano Cortina Games in her side's 4-0 win over France on Sunday to seal a quarter-final place, but she and teammates remain focused on closing out the group before their medal bid begins in earnest.
Johansson got Sweden off the mark against the French, to add to her two goals against Italy on Saturday, having also scored in their opening Group B win over Germany.
In a tournament where
most of the focus is on the North American powerhouses of Canada and the United States in Group A, Johansson is leading the goal scoring charts. She credits her form with last year's move from Mercyhurst University to Minnesota Duluth.
"I think it just comes from a lot of self-confidence," Johansson told reporters.
"I'm playing with my best friends, I'm loading maybe a little bit more minutes now. I'm playing in the college league, and I changed schools for this year and I've been working on my goal scoring.
"But even with the national team, we have been working extra with the goal scoring. It seems like it's working for me at least, and for a lot of other girls. It's super fun, and that's how you win hockey games."
Sweden have booked their place in the last eight with one match remaining, against Japan on Tuesday, where a win would guarantee top spot and a better seeding in the knockout stage, as they search for their first medal since a silver in 2006.
"I think the chances are kind of big, but we're trying to focus on the group stage here first," Johansson said.
"We want to win all the games, and all the games are super important, so we don't want to think too far ahead. We want to win this group."
Sara Hjalmarsson, who scored Sweden's second against France, echoed her teammates' words when asked about ending her country's medal drought.
"It's been a while, so it's about time," Hjalmarsson said.
"But we're taking one game at a time here, so I'm super happy with the win today. We're in the place where we want to be after three games.
"Next up is Japan on Tuesday, so we're going to try and get some rest tomorrow and then be ready for that one."
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes and Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
