The Swiss national team suffered their first defeat against Sweden in the third game of the IIHF World Championship on Tuesday and they had it 7-0. The Swedes had previously suffered defeats against the outsiders from Denmark and Belarus and shot the frustration off their hearts against the Swiss.
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“Some things were not right today,” said defense veteran Raphael Diaz, visibly dissatisfied. “First the penalties, we knew that Sweden had a great power play. What they did extremely well, they always got into the neutral zone with a lot of momentum and were able to overcome it so quickly.”
In the first third it looked as if Switzerland could make the game exciting. Although the Swedes had more shares in the game and were more offensive, with 8: 4 shots on goal, the picture was far from being a disaster. What bothered the Swiss most was the efficiency of the Scandinavians.
Jesper Froden made it 1-0 in the ninth minute, increasing after exactly ten minutes Adrian Kempe from the Los Angeles Kings to 2-0. In the second third there was again no mass of shots on goal at Leonardo Genoni in the Swiss goal, but the Swedes found ways to beat him again. This was also due to the penalties mentioned by Diaz. Swiss players spent a total of 14 minutes in the penalty box.
In the 23rd minute took advantage Victor Olofsson a power play to increase it to 3-0, while Diaz was in the penalty box for hooking. In the 31st minute, Froden was again on the spot with his second goal. That also marked the end of the evening for Genoni, who was replaced by coach Patrick Fischer for Melvin Nyffeler.
“They had a lot of pull to the goal, deflected shots and had power play goals,” said Diaz, listing the strengths that led to the Swedes’ victory. “Those are some things that we must certainly analyze and improve immediately.”
Nyffeler kept his box clean for the remaining ten minutes of the second period, but quickly made acquaintance with the Swedish exploitation of chances in the final section. 78 seconds were played in the third period when Magnus Nygren scored the next powerplay goal. The 20-year-old Nils Lundkvist let a defender’s fourth goal follow in the 48th minute and Henrik Tommernes in the 51st minute again made a defender for the final score.
“There are always positives,” said Diaz. “But yes, you have to be honest, with a 7-0 win it is certainly difficult to find something positive.”
After three games, the Swiss are still in third place in Group A with six points, while Sweden worked their way up to sixth with the first three points. Switzerland’s next game will take place on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. against league leaders Slovakia.
[Ähnliches: Deutschland gewinnt gegen Kanada auch drittes WM-Gruppenspiel]
The other games:
Group A
Great Britain – Denmark 2: 3 a.d.
The team from Great Britain narrowly missed their first win, but at least secured one point in a 2-3 defeat after extra time against Denmark. Ben O’Connor gave the British an early lead in the third minute, but Julian Jakobsen equalized in the 11th minute and top scorer Nicklas Jensen used a power play in the 14th minute to give Denmark the lead. In the 57th minute, Mike Hammond forced extra time. Defender Markus Lauridsen was there 25 seconds before the end of extra time to score the winning goal for the Danes.
Group B
USA – Kazakhstan 3-0
Los Angeles Kings goalkeeper Cal Petersen scored the first shutout for the USA with 18 saves in a 3-0 win against Kazakhstan. The Americans dominated the game with 49:18 shots on goal from start to finish. In the seventh minute Adam Clendening laid the foundation stone with a 1-0 win, followed by goals from Petersen’s team-mates Trevor Moore (22nd) and Jack Drury (42nd).
Finland – Norway 5-2
The Norwegians knew how to make the game exciting for long stretches of their 5-2 defeat against Finland. Mathis Olimb surprised the favorites from Finland after 90 seconds with the 1-0. In the 15th minute Iiro Pakarinen equalized and in the second third Anton Lundell (22nd) and Kim Nousiainen (26th) turned the game. In the final section, Tobias Lindstrom (42nd) scored another quick hit to catch up with Norway. In the end, the Finns secured the victory with a power player from Jere Innala (48th) and the goal for the final score from Hannes Bjorninen.
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