World Championship day 1: Czechs edge Finland in SO
The opening day of the IIHF World Championship saw victories for Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic. The Czech hosts squeaked a shoot-out verdict over Finland despite a shut-out from former Vityaz and Sibir goalie Harri Sateri through 65 minutes of tense action in Prague.
Group A
Switzerland 5 Norway 2 (1-1, 3-0, 1-1)
Former Avangard forward Sven Andrighetto scored the first goal at the 2024 World Championship, setting Switzerland on the way to an opening night win.
Andrighetto opened the scoring midway through the first period, but Norway recovered to finish the session strongly. With an attack bolstered by Mats Zuccarello (ex Metallurg) and two-time Gagarin Cup winner Patrick Thoresen, the Norwegians have more offensive threat here. Thoresen set up Markus Vikingstad for an equalizer, then missed a great chance to send Norway into the intermission up 2-1.
Switzerland recovered its poise in the second period, opening a 4-1 lead, With the outcome settled, the teams traded goals in the third, Zuccarello and Thoresen assisting as teenager Michael Brandsegg-Nygard scored his first international goal.
Czech Republic 1 Finland 0 SO (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
A shoot-out goal from KHL veteran Roman Cervenka sealed a tight victory for the host nation in the tournament opener. After 65 goalless minutes, the Czechs finally solved Harri Sateri in the shoot-out. Ondrej Kase made the initial breakthrough, then Cervenka finished the job. At the other end, Finland was unable to beat Lukas Dostal during the game or the shoot-out.
That opening frame saw Finnish goalie Harri Sateri, previously with Vityaz and Sibir in the KHL, stop 10 shots as the Czechs dominated. At the other end, Dostal faced just one shot with Jussi Jalonen’s team struggling to create any kind of offense.
The second period was also goalless, but the Czechs were frustrated when a video review wiped out a goal from Ondrej Palat. Interference on Sateri was the call and the teams remained deadlocked. Now, though, the game was far more even – a pattern that persisted into the third.
The Czechs began overtime on the power play, but the first big chance went to Finland. Mikael Granlund faked a shot and dished out a pass for Mikko Lehtonen, but Dostal read the play and got across to pad away the save. That ushered in a flurry of chances as the game suddenly exploded into an end-to-end battle. The best chance went to the Czechs when Cervenka’s no-look pass released David Kampf. Sateri again came up with the stop and finished 65 minutes with 27 saves. At the other end, Dostal had 21 stops and the game was on the way to a shoot-out.
Group B
Slovakia 4 Germany 6 (0-0, 2-3, 2-3)
Last year’s silver medalist made a winning start in Ostrava – but owed much to 35 saves from Philipp Grubauer. At the other end, the German offense was clinical – six goals of 22 shots – to claim victory in an absorbing game.
There was KHL interest here. Marek Hrivik, previously with Vityaz and Torpedo, got the first Slovak goal. He was assisted on that play by Peter Cehlarik, who played for Avangard in 2021-2022. Later, Hrivik assisted as Libor Hudacek (who played KHL for Slovan, Neftekhimik and Dinamo Minsk) got it back to 3-4.
But the Slovaks were always chasing the game, and not even two points from 2022 Olympic MVP Juraj Slafkovsky could deny the Germans. Slovakia was also hampered by 24 PIMs, with Germany’s first two goals coming on the power play.
Sweden 5 USA 2 (1-0, 2-1, 2-0)
Sweden’s strong defense met an American offense with some depth – and edged a narrow verdict. The Tre Kronor got the only goal of the first period thanks to center Joel Eriksson Ek, assisted by former Spartak D-man Tim Heed on his World Championship debut.
The middle frame saw Lucas Raymond extend the Swedish lead. However, when Sweden took the first penalty of the game in the 30th minute, the USA picked up momentum on the power play and Zach Werenski pulled one back shortly after the teams went back to equal strength.
Marcus Johansson restored Sweden’s two-goal lead before the second intermission, but there was little chance to rest on that advantage. Early in the third, Brock Nelson again reduced the deficit for team USA. When the Americans got a power play in the 57th minute, the fightback was very much on. However, Cole Caufield spurned a big chance to tie the game, then goalie Alex Lyon went to the bench, only for Viktor Hedman to settle the outcome with an empty-net goal. There was still time for Eriksson Ek to pot his second of the night and put some gloss on the final scoreline.
Main photo: PressFocus/MB Media / Getty Sport / GettyImages.ru
