photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDRE RINGUETTE
Three was tonight’s magic number for Switzerland. Three goals in 3:33 blew this game open in the second period, and took the host nation to three wins from three games.
The quickfire salvo from Denis Malgin, Sven Andrighetto and Christoph Bertschy took this game away from a German team that is struggling for goals in Zurich this year. There was more to come in the middle frame, with Nico Hischier and Roman Josi pushing the lead to an unassailable 5-0.
Andrighetto added another in the third, and now has six goals in his last two World Championship games against Germany after a four-star show last year. All six were assisted by Malgin.
Little wonder their team-mates were hyped by their performances in Zurich so far. The duo have 10 points between them in the opening three games.
“[Sven]’s been terrific,” Nino Niederreiter said. “I think he’s a terrific hockey player. He’s very underrated, and to me, he’s still an NHL player. If he had had a little better luck with certain organizations, I’m thinking he would still be there.”
And Timo Meier sang the praises of Malgin: “He was flying out there, making plays and really strong on the puck,” he said. “He’s a difference-maker, the way he plays not just with the puck, but also back-pressures and defends for us. Definitely a huge game by him.”
Those were not the only unpalatable figures for Germany. Zero wins in the three, a tournament low zero power play goals in nine attempts. And there was a wait of 155:56 between die Mannschaft’s two goals at the tournament so far. Frederik Tiffels’ late tally denied Leonardo Genoni a record-breaking 13th shut out in World Championship action.
“We played like we wanted to play the first 20 minutes,” said Leon Huttl. “Then, it was just a matter of execution. That is, we were not able to play it simple enough. And then we got some goals against and that was the game.”
That goal also spared Germany a repeat of its worst ever loss against the Swiss – but you have to go back 89 years to find a 6-0 success in the record books.
Yet, for 25 minutes, this looked like an arm wrestle of a game. Germany’s debut goalie Jonas Stettmer, a two-time DEL champion with Eisbaren at age 24, looked assured. Moritz Seider was controlling things defensively and generating offence. Germany began the middle frame with two power plays in quick succession and was beginning to pressure Genoni.
But it changed in triple-quick time. As the second power play came to a close, Lukas Reichel’s shot rippled the outside of Genoni’s net. But the forward’s next play, a high-risk pass across the Swiss zone, was intercepted.
Switzerland was off to the races. Josi, to Hischier and out wide for Malgin to score a short-handed goal from a tight angle.
And after weathering a storm, the Swiss unleashed a whirlwind. Two minutes later, another slick play saw Malgin and Timo Meier pounce after Kai Wissman fanned on the puck in front of his own net. Stettmer was left in a spin, Malgin fed Andrighetto for 2-0.
Which soon became three after some fantastic work in front of the net from Nino Niederreiter set up Bertschy.
“We talked about it during the first intermission,” Niederreiter said of that play. “We said we had to make sure we shoot the strong-side shot to create that scramble, and that’s what happened. I knew Bertschy was coming down, so I felt like I tried to do whatever it took to get the puck towards him. And it finally went in.”
Germany’s offence lacks star power this year: no Draisaitl, no Peterka. The Swiss have more of their NHL stars on the team and that told when the Germans ran into penalty trouble. Josi moved into the zone, Meier went deep and picked out Hischier between the hash marks for 4-0. Then Josi slalomed through the defence to make it 5-0.
It was almost another quickfire treble for the Swiss when a stretch pass put Simon Knak beyond the beleaguered German defence, but Stettmer came up big with a confidence-boosting save.
The game was done in two periods, but the Swiss kept coming. Pius Suter capitalized on a loose puck in the German zone, his backhand pass invited Malgin to shoot and the rebound dropped for Andrighetto to find a finish from an awkward position net side.
Andrighetto scored four on Germany a year ago in a 5-1 Swiss win. He went on to ring the iron twice on a power play late in the game but the next goal went to Germany. Reichel produced a dazzling toe drag across slot to open up the defence before teeing up Tiffels for a late consolation.
That might give the German offence something of a boost before Wednesday’s meeting with the USA. For Switzerland, the next test is an Alpine match-up against unbeaten Austria.
The quickfire salvo from Denis Malgin, Sven Andrighetto and Christoph Bertschy took this game away from a German team that is struggling for goals in Zurich this year. There was more to come in the middle frame, with Nico Hischier and Roman Josi pushing the lead to an unassailable 5-0.
Andrighetto added another in the third, and now has six goals in his last two World Championship games against Germany after a four-star show last year. All six were assisted by Malgin.
Little wonder their team-mates were hyped by their performances in Zurich so far. The duo have 10 points between them in the opening three games.
“[Sven]’s been terrific,” Nino Niederreiter said. “I think he’s a terrific hockey player. He’s very underrated, and to me, he’s still an NHL player. If he had had a little better luck with certain organizations, I’m thinking he would still be there.”
And Timo Meier sang the praises of Malgin: “He was flying out there, making plays and really strong on the puck,” he said. “He’s a difference-maker, the way he plays not just with the puck, but also back-pressures and defends for us. Definitely a huge game by him.”
Those were not the only unpalatable figures for Germany. Zero wins in the three, a tournament low zero power play goals in nine attempts. And there was a wait of 155:56 between die Mannschaft’s two goals at the tournament so far. Frederik Tiffels’ late tally denied Leonardo Genoni a record-breaking 13th shut out in World Championship action.
“We played like we wanted to play the first 20 minutes,” said Leon Huttl. “Then, it was just a matter of execution. That is, we were not able to play it simple enough. And then we got some goals against and that was the game.”
That goal also spared Germany a repeat of its worst ever loss against the Swiss – but you have to go back 89 years to find a 6-0 success in the record books.
Yet, for 25 minutes, this looked like an arm wrestle of a game. Germany’s debut goalie Jonas Stettmer, a two-time DEL champion with Eisbaren at age 24, looked assured. Moritz Seider was controlling things defensively and generating offence. Germany began the middle frame with two power plays in quick succession and was beginning to pressure Genoni.
But it changed in triple-quick time. As the second power play came to a close, Lukas Reichel’s shot rippled the outside of Genoni’s net. But the forward’s next play, a high-risk pass across the Swiss zone, was intercepted.
Switzerland was off to the races. Josi, to Hischier and out wide for Malgin to score a short-handed goal from a tight angle.
And after weathering a storm, the Swiss unleashed a whirlwind. Two minutes later, another slick play saw Malgin and Timo Meier pounce after Kai Wissman fanned on the puck in front of his own net. Stettmer was left in a spin, Malgin fed Andrighetto for 2-0.
Which soon became three after some fantastic work in front of the net from Nino Niederreiter set up Bertschy.
“We talked about it during the first intermission,” Niederreiter said of that play. “We said we had to make sure we shoot the strong-side shot to create that scramble, and that’s what happened. I knew Bertschy was coming down, so I felt like I tried to do whatever it took to get the puck towards him. And it finally went in.”
Germany’s offence lacks star power this year: no Draisaitl, no Peterka. The Swiss have more of their NHL stars on the team and that told when the Germans ran into penalty trouble. Josi moved into the zone, Meier went deep and picked out Hischier between the hash marks for 4-0. Then Josi slalomed through the defence to make it 5-0.
It was almost another quickfire treble for the Swiss when a stretch pass put Simon Knak beyond the beleaguered German defence, but Stettmer came up big with a confidence-boosting save.
The game was done in two periods, but the Swiss kept coming. Pius Suter capitalized on a loose puck in the German zone, his backhand pass invited Malgin to shoot and the rebound dropped for Andrighetto to find a finish from an awkward position net side.
Andrighetto scored four on Germany a year ago in a 5-1 Swiss win. He went on to ring the iron twice on a power play late in the game but the next goal went to Germany. Reichel produced a dazzling toe drag across slot to open up the defence before teeing up Tiffels for a late consolation.
That might give the German offence something of a boost before Wednesday’s meeting with the USA. For Switzerland, the next test is an Alpine match-up against unbeaten Austria.
Germany vs Switzerland - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
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