World Championship: Swedes beat Kazakhstan, Austria stuns Finland
Kazakhstan suffered a 1-3 loss to Sweden, but produced a performance that got the seal of approval from former Barys defenseman Victor Hedman in Ostrava. In the same arena, France fell to a heavy loss against the USA later on Thursday. But the big talking point was Austria’s last-second victory over Finland, with Benjamin Baumgartner giving his country a first ever win over the Finns at a World Championship. In the evening, Canada defeated Norway.
Group B
Kazakhstan 1 Sweden 3 (0-1, 0-1, 1-1)
Kazakhstan battled hard, but could not halt Sweden’s perfect start to the 2024 IIHF World Championship. A brave goaltending display from Nikita Boyarkin kept the Kazakhs in contention despite huge Swedish pressure, and Adil Beketayev fired home the hardest shot of the tournament so far – 162 km/h – for his team’s goal.
However, that wasn’t enough as the impressive Swedes rolled to a fourth successive victory.
The Kazakh performance got a thumbs-up from an unexpected source: Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman, a two-time Stanley Cup winner and 2017 World Champion, played for Barys during the lockdown in 2012-2013. Today he was reunited with a couple of former team-mates, and spoke warmly of Kazakhstan’s progress over the subsequent decade.
“There were two guys who I played with over those three months, Starchenko and Rakhmanov,” the two-time Stanley Cup winner said. “I think hockey is getting better worldwide and Kazakhstan is a good example of that. They’re getting better.
“I had a great time in my few months there. I learned a lot and I think Kazakh hockey is going in the right direction.”
Right now, Sweden is also making the right moves. Goals from Marcus Johansson, Linus Johansson and Fabien Zetterlund secured another win in Ostrava.
Kazakhstan’s Batyrlan Muratov, who remembered watching Hedman playing for Barys in his childhood, enjoyed the challenge of facing some of the best in the world. Despite the loss, he’s hoping to build on the experience.
“We didn’t play a bad game,” he said. “Now we have to be ready for the next one. We need to make the most of our power play and keep making progress.”
USA 5 France 0 (4-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Ahead of this game, France was level on points with the USA. Les Bleus could think about a possible playoff push, especially if they took a win over the Americans.
However, it wasn’t to be for Stephane Da Costa and his colleagues. The USA produced its best performance of the tournament to date, limiting the French offense to just 10 shots on goal and easing to a comfortable win.
The damage all came in the first. Brock Nelson opened the scoring after 45 seconds and Matt Boldy doubled the lead on 3:24. France persevered with Julian Junca in goal, but Boldy added another before Johnny Gaudreau made it 4-0 late in the session.
That forced the French to change goalies and incoming netminder Quentin Papillon endured a tough time in the middle frame, facing 23 shots. However, he kept them all out in a goalless session, even though there was almost no relief from the American pressure. Papillon was eventually beaten by Shane Pinto in the closing moments to wrap up a 5-0 scoreline.
Group A
Finland 2 Austria 3 (2-0, 0-1, 0-2)
Austria’s World Championship continues to produce surprises. After a stunning fightback against Canada turned a 1-6 deficit into an overtime loss, the Austrians regrouped to deliver a first ever victory over Finland in IIHF play.
Once again, there was late drama in Prague as the Austrians stunned everyone to grab a win that could move this campaign from a survival battle to a push for a quarter-final spot. Benjamin Baumgartner grabbed the history-making goal in the final second, picking up a rebound and circling around the point before firing in a long shot that beat both Harri Sateri and the buzzer to win it for Austria.
That seemed unlikely in the early stages as Finland eased into a 2-0 lead after eight minutes. Saku Maenalanen opened the scoring and Oliver Kapanen kept up his impressive form as the Leijonat seemed to have complete control. But Austria kept working, Mario Huber reduced the arrears in the second period and Finland’s offense wandered off course. With the play levelling out, Thimo Nickl tied the scored midway through the third, setting the scene for Baumgartner’s big moment.
Canada 4 Norway 1 (1-0, 1-0, 2-1)
For two periods, Norway failed to muster a shot on the Canadian net. However, the defending champion failed to make maximum use of its dominance and found itself drawn into a surprisingly tight finale.
Up 2-0 through 40 minutes, Canada allowed a goal early in the third when Stian Solberg scored on his team’s first shot on goal of the night. Given that the Canadians blew a 6-1 lead against Austria in the previous game, there was every reason for Norway to believe it could salvage a far smaller deficit here.
However, Canada had learned from its earlier failings. Dylan Cozens made it 3-1 with a shorthanded goal – Norway unable to add a shot during its power play – and finished the job with an empty-netter from Jared McCann. That play saw Canadian goalie Nico Daws pick up an assist, which might be some consolation for allowing one goal off the six shots he faced in total.
Earlier, Canada held the Norwegians at arm’s length. Goals from Brandon Tanev – his first in World Championship play at the age of 32 – and the hero of the 2021 gold-medal team Andrew Mangiapane opened that 2-0 lead.
Main photo: Andrzej Iwanczuk/NurPhoto / Getty Sport / GettyImages.ru
