IIHF – Swiss go for gold

Switzerland goes back to the gold-medal game thanks to a nerve-jangling victory over Canada in Saturday’s World Championship semi-final in Prague.

Sven Andrighetto’s shoot-out decider, coupled with Leonardo Genoni’s save to deny Dylan Cozens, edged the win. It was a repeat of the 2018 semi-final, with the teams tying 2-2 in regulation. Canada rallied from 0-2 to tie the game on a late John Tavares goal and take its championship defence into the extras. But the Swiss held on and clinched the shoot-out to advance.

Switzerland took the game to Canada from the start. The group stage meeting suggested that there was little for Patrick Fischer’s team to fear if it could stay out of the box. Moreover, everyone knew that the Swiss power play had the potential to cause trouble.

And that was exactly how it played out. After dominating much of the play, Switzerland grabbed two power play goals in two minutes late in the frame to open a 2-0 lead. Oddly, the PP was not entirely convincing, with Canada’s Brandon Tanev forcing a big save from Leonardo Genoni.

But when play went down the ice, Kevin Fiala exchanged passes with Romain Loeffel before slamming a one-timer over Joel Binnington’s shoulder. That made it seven goals in seven games for Fiala.

Fiala turned provider on the next power play, teeing up Roman Josi for a thunderous point shot that Nino Niederreiter tipped past Binnington to double the lead. Switzerland moved to 12 power play goals for the tournament, matching Canada’s PP tally in its imperious 2015 campaign here in Czechia. It also represents a 50% increase on last year’s tournament leading eight power play tallies from the Czechs.

Given those figures, the last thing Canada needed was another penalty early in the second period. But Tavares wrestled Andres Ambuhl to the floor behind his own net and that PP rolled up again.

This time, though, the Canadian PK held on. And, again, there was a big shorthanded chance when Dawson Mercer stole the puck on the Swiss blue and hared away, only to shoot wide of Genoni’s net.

The successful kill gave Canada a boost, and soon the roles were reversed when Jonas Siegenthaler sat for cross-checking. In the group game, all three Canadian goals came on the power play and penalty killing has not been a Swiss strength this year. The extra man could not generate a goal but did start to move play to the other end of the ice.

That pressure eventually paid off. There was another unsuccessful PP, but shortly after…