Slovenia, without a point to their name, were determined to save face 24 hours after they were thrashed 9-1 by Finland, and despite conceding 16 shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes were able to hold off the Tre Kronor and keep things goalless at the first break.
But their defensive barricade was finally breached five minutes into the second period, when Mikael Backlund worked his way into the attacking zone and teed up Lindholm, whose shot squeezed through goaltender Lukas Horak.
Despite two powerplays in the period, the floodgates failed to open for Sweden, and it took until the final two minutes of the second for them to force home the goal to double their lead.
Filip Forsberg won the puck back behind the net and found Lindholm, whose initial effort was saved, but a clever Marcus Pettersson pass on the rebound set up the Boston Bruins man to guide home his and Sweden's second.
Midway through the third period, Lindholm completed his hattrick when receiving a Jonas Brodin pass to the left side, where he had time and space to pick his spot through the crowd. That goal takes the 30-year-old to nine points for the championship, level with Czech Republic's David Pastrnak.
The Avicii Arena was on its feet once more before the final horn, as Marcus Johansson created space for himself in a central position and fire past Horak.
The 4-0 success was one of the simpler shutouts in the career of Jacob Markstrom, who faced nine shots on goal compared to the 60 sent in Horak's direction.
Sweden go back atop the group and have ambitions of a sixth win tomorrow when they take on France. Slovenia's next chance to get a point on the board comes on Sunday against Austria.
Earlier in Group A today, three goals in the first 16 minutes helped Austria to their first win inside 60 minutes at the tournament, eventually running out 5-2 winners over France. Austria sit sixth, two points behind Slovakia in fourth, while France are one place but four points further back.
In Group B, Switzerland climbed back into first place by beating Norway 3-0 to move two points ahead of the Czechs, and click here to read about how Denmark notched a huge win against Hungary to keep their knockout stage ambitions alive.
Check all the scores and stats from the World Hockey Championship on Flashscore.
