World Championship day 3: Kazakhs suffer, Latvia wins another thriller

Kazakhstan couldn’t build on an opening night win at the IIHF World Championship, slipping to a 2-6 loss against Slovakia. Latvia followed its nervy OT win against Poland with another tight verdict over France, with Kaspars Daugavins again grabbing the OT goal. Elsewhere, there were comfortable victories for Finland, Canada and Sweden, while Switzerland faced a battle against Austria before edging a 6-5 verdict thanks to Nico Hischier’s hat-trick.

Group B

Slovakia 6 Kazakhstan 2 (3-0, 1-1, 2-1)

After an encouraging start to the tournament, Kazakhstan came back down to earth with a heavy loss against Slovakia. Libor Hudacek had three points in the game, adding to the goal that the former Slovan, Neftekhimik and Dinamo Minsk forward got in the opening game.

The damage was done in the first period, with goals from Martin Pospisel, Martin Fasko-Rudas and Matus Sukel opened a 3-0 lead for the Slovaks. Early in the second period, Alikhan Asetov pulled a goal back for Kazakhstan before Hudacek restored the three-goal Slovak advantage.

In the final frame, Hudacek assisted on further tallies for Pospisel and Lukas Cingel. Nikita Boyarkin came into the Kazakh net in place of Andrei Shutov after the sixth Slovak goal before Alikhan Omirbekov scored his first World Championship goal in the closing minutes.

“We put a lot of energy and emotion [into the France game] but we have to come out and give everything in every game,” said Omirbekov. “We tried to do that today but it didn’t quite happen. So we’ll focus on winning the next one.

“[In the second period] we started to play a more physical game, the opposition started coughing up the puck and that helped us to score.”

Latvia 3 France 2 OT (0-1, 0-0, 2-1, 1-0)

For the second game in a row, Kaspars Daugavins was the overtime hero for Latvia. Today he grabbed a game-winner with one second left, forcing a turnover and lifting the puck over Julian Junca in the French net.

That handed the French a second loss in Ostrava, but this was a much-improved performance. Avtomobilist’s Stephane Da Costa opened the scoring in the first period, converting a five-on-three power play. France protected that lead well, but Rodrigo Abols tied it up for Latvia early in the third. Then Roberts Bukarts scored on a major penalty and it looked like the game was settled.

France had other ideas: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tipped a Da Costa shot into the net to force overtime, and Stephane almost won it in the extras. But, for the second time in 24 hours, Daugavins got the win for Latvia.

Sweden 5 Poland 1 (2-0, 1-0, 2-1)

The Tre Kronor made a fast start to see off Poland and secure back-to-back wins at the start of their World Championship campaign. After defeating the USA 5-2 on Friday, Sweden took a 2-0 lead inside seven minutes against the newly-promoted Poles. Marcus Johansson and Lucas Raymond did the early damage.

After that, the game quieted down. Sweden continued to dominate without adding to its tally; Poland hung around to keep the score close but never seriously threatened to test the favorite.

Erik Karlsson extended the Swedish lead in the second period before Alan Lyszczarczyk got a memorable consolation effort for the Poles early in the third. The final word went to Sweden, with double minor penalty on Kamil Gorny bringing power play goals for Andre Burakovsky and Karlsson.

Group A

Finland 8 Great Britain 0 (1-0, 5-0, 2-0)

After a frustrating start, Finland’s offense exploded against GB. The two teams lost their opening games, but while the Brits were encouraged by a battling 2-4 reverse against Canada, Finland stuttered through 65 goalless minutes before falling in a shoot-out against the Czechs.

For a time, that reticence in front of goal continued. But after Oliver Kapanen opened the scoring in the 17th minute the Leijonat took complete control. Finland ran in five unanswered goals in the second period on the way to a comprehensive victory. Kapanen had a hat-trick – the first of the championship – while former Jokerit and SKA defenseman Mikko Lehtonen was also among the goalscorers.

Finland’s victory moves it to four points from two games. Britain is still awaiting its first win in the 2024 championship, and a first win against the Finns since a 7-5 scoreline in 1962.

Denmark 1 Canada 5 (0-2, 1-0, 0-3)

Connor Bedard had 3 (2+1) points to move to the head of the World Championship scoring race as Canada picked up a second successive victory. Denmark, a convincing winner over Austria in its opening game, posed some questions for the defending champ but lacked the firepower to really test the Canadians.

Bedard opened the scoring in the third minute here, and Canada increased its lead through Dylan Cozens late in the first period. John Tavares assisted on that one in his first appearance since arriving in Prague.

The Danes got one back at the start of the second through Christian Wejse and had the better of the middle frame. However, there was no way past Jordan Binnington to tie the game.

After withstanding that push, Canada responded with a second goal for Bedard at the start of the third. Now it was Fredrick Dichow who was the busier of the two goalies as the Canadians outshot Denmark 26-5 in the final frame. Even so, it took an empty-netter from Dawson Mercer to kill it off before Bedard set up Pierre-Luc Dubois for a last-minute power play tally.

Austria 5 Switzerland 6 (2-1, 2-3, 1-2)

Switzerland had to turn to its NHL stars to dig it out of a hole against Austria. The Alpine derby saw the Austrians lead 2-0 and 3-1, but the Swiss recovered. A stellar power play brought a hat-trick for Nico Hischier plus two goals from Roman Josi.

The key passage of play came in the second period. Austria, for the second time, was reduced to three skaters. Josi converted the five-on-three advantage once again then, 17 seconds later, Ken Jager’s PP goal put the Swiss up for the first time in the game.

Austria stayed in contention, with Lukas Haudum’s second of the game tying it at 4-4. Hischier got his second to restore the Swiss lead, but that wasn’t enough as Benjamin Baumgartner tied it up at 5-5.

Brave Austria was hit by yet another penalty in the last couple of minutes and the Swiss PP claimed its fifth goal of the night as Hischier completed his treble on 59:09.

Main photo: Foto Olimpik / NurPhoto / Getty Sport / GettyImages.ru