Swiss take second in Group A

Switzerland wrapped up its Group A program with a victory over Finland. The Swiss finish with six wins from seven to take second place in the section, setting up a quarter-final against Germany.

Three points from Kevin Fiala led the way to a 3-1 verdict that was more dominant than the scoreline alone might suggest. Fiala now has 10 (6+4) points through five games since he jumped on the first flight out of Los Angeles to join his country at the end of his NHL playoff campaign. For long spells, Finland struggled to generate offence as the Swiss kept a vice-like grip on proceedings.

Much of the significance of this game drained away when Austria stumbled this morning. Finland no longer needed a result to secure its playoff spot and could worry instead on trying to secure a morale-boosting win ahead of Thursday’s showdown with Sweden.

Switzerland, meanwhile, was looking to secure second place in Group A and a quarter-final pairing with Germany. However, both teams knew they would be travelling to Ostrava for Thursday’s games regardless of the result: host nation Czechia was booked to stay in Prague regardless of its position in the standings.

With less riding on the result, the first period lacked some of the expected intensity. The hockey was precise and well-executed, but rarely produced big chances. The closest either team came was a combination involving Fiala, Nino Niederreiter and Nico Hischier that gave the latter a chance in front. Harri Sateri held on in the Finnish net.

The Swiss weren’t shy of showing aggression. Two seconds before the intermission a penalty call offered a chance of a free shot. With no time for the Finns to launch a counter, Switzerland replaced goalie Akira Schmid with a sixth skater, won the face-off and fashioned a shooting lane for Roman Josi. Sateri’s blocker sent us to the break without a goal.

Things livened up in the second period. Switzerland opened the scoring after 25 minutes following Romain Loeffel’s blast from halfway. Sateri padded it out, straight to Fiala. He resisted the temptation to unleash an instant shot from the circle, zipped past Jesper Mattila and faked a shot before pulling away from Sateri and giving himself a tap in. Impressive execution from high speed from the Swiss forward.

Two minutes later, the Swiss doubled the lead. Fiala was involved again, bringing the puck deep into Finnish territory. Then it was back to the point, along the blue line and into a 161 km/h slapshot from Andreas Glauser…