In a back-and-forth battle, the U.S. defeated Germany 4-3 in a shootout at the 2026 Ice Hockey World Championship in Zurich, Switzerland.
photo: PHOTO: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDRE RINGUETTE
The defending champion U.S. fell behind twice, but fought back to beat Germany 4-3 in a shootout on Wednesday night in Zurich. It's the second American win in four Group A outings. Ryan Leonard scored the shootout winner as the last shooter in the fifth round.
In regulation time, Isaac Howard added a goal and an assist for the U.S., and Max Sasson and Tommy Novak also scored.
This was a duel between goalies from the NHL’s Pacific Division, pitting the U.S.’s Devin Cooley (Calgary Flames) versus Germany’s Philipp Grubauer (Seattle Kraken). The U.S. outshot Germany 40-34.
Cooley raved about Leonard's deciding goal: "Sick! I was so excited. Once they scored the first one, and then we went like four shooters without scoring. I was like, 'Oh no, come on, boys, come on!' And then we scored two in a row and won it. It was awesome. He's a really special player."
The Germans are vying with Great Britain to avoid last place in the group right now, and even getting one point helps. Captain Moritz Seider, Frederik Tiffels and Marc Michaelis scored for Germany.
"I think there was definitely more in store for us than one point, but obviously in the shootout it's pretty tough," said Joshua Samanski, the lone German to beat Cooley in the shootout. "It can go either way. We battled super-hard, and you know we deserve that one point at least."
Star forward Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers) made his tournament debut with the Americans, playing on a line with Novak (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Leonard (Washington Capitals).
"It definitely took me a little bit to feel it out and feel like myself again," said Tkachuk, a 2026 Olympic gold medalist who led all U.S. forwards in ice time versus Germany (23:15). "But once the first period was towards the end, I started feeling good again."
Overall, the U.S. holds the edge over Germany in head-to-head competition with 34 wins, seven ties, and 10 losses. However, in the biggest recent meeting, the Germans edged the U.S. 4-3 in overtime in the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship semi-finals en route to the silver medal in Tampere.
One minute in, Seider gave Germany the start it wanted. From the centre point, the Detroit Red Wings star floated his first goal of the tournament past Cooley through traffic. The only two previous German goals at these Worlds had come in the third period in the 3-1 loss to Finland and the 6-1 loss to Switzerland.
Samanski hailed Seider's leadership: "Obviously the way he's playing overseas in the NHL is the same way he plays here. He's our leader. He speaks up and helps us continue to grow our game, and I'm just trying to soak everything up and learn as well."
The Americans kept plugging away and gained momentum from their strong forecheck. Howard knotted the score at 14:33 off a German defensive-zone blunder. When Tiffels sent the puck out front to Fabio Wagner under pressure, he bobbled the puck. That enabled Alex Steeves to poke it to the 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner, who made no mistake.
In the second period, Sasson barged to the net to bang in the rebound from Ryan Ufko's point shot, giving the U.S. its first lead at 5:06.
Germany's Kai Wissmann thought he had tied it up at 6:27, but video review after a coach's challenge confirmed that Joshua Samanski was unable to keep the puck onside at the blue line on the play. The score remained 2-1.
Tiffels atoned for his earlier mistake just before the halfway mark, winning a puck battle in the slot with the U.S.'s Sam Lafferty and firing it past Cooley for the equalizer.
Germany retook the lead at 12:42. Alexander Ehl sent the puck cross-ice to the onrushing Michaelis and he broke over the U.S. to beat Cooley glove side.
The Germans stepped up their pace late in the middle frame, forcing Cooley to make excellent saves off Parker Tuomie and Lukas Reichel.
A gritty crease play saw the U.S. make it 3-3 at 14:13 of the third period. Grubauer thought he had the puck covered up, but Declan Carlile succeeded in poking it loose to Novak, who scored on the open side.
An exciting, end-to-end overtime settled nothing, and it was off to the shootout.
"The first couple periods were kind of boring for me, not a lot of shots, but then a lot of goals, so I didn't really like that," Cooley confessed. "But the third period, overtime, the shootout, that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it."
The U.S. hopes Tkachuk's leadership will help it repeat as the world champion. Along with his younger brother Brady, the talented, agitating forward played an important role in the U.S.’s 2-1 gold-medal victory over archrival Canada in Milan in February. Tkachuk, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Florida, also owns a 2015 U18 Worlds gold medal and a 2016 World Junior bronze medal.
In regulation time, Isaac Howard added a goal and an assist for the U.S., and Max Sasson and Tommy Novak also scored.
This was a duel between goalies from the NHL’s Pacific Division, pitting the U.S.’s Devin Cooley (Calgary Flames) versus Germany’s Philipp Grubauer (Seattle Kraken). The U.S. outshot Germany 40-34.
Cooley raved about Leonard's deciding goal: "Sick! I was so excited. Once they scored the first one, and then we went like four shooters without scoring. I was like, 'Oh no, come on, boys, come on!' And then we scored two in a row and won it. It was awesome. He's a really special player."
The Germans are vying with Great Britain to avoid last place in the group right now, and even getting one point helps. Captain Moritz Seider, Frederik Tiffels and Marc Michaelis scored for Germany.
"I think there was definitely more in store for us than one point, but obviously in the shootout it's pretty tough," said Joshua Samanski, the lone German to beat Cooley in the shootout. "It can go either way. We battled super-hard, and you know we deserve that one point at least."
Star forward Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers) made his tournament debut with the Americans, playing on a line with Novak (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Leonard (Washington Capitals).
"It definitely took me a little bit to feel it out and feel like myself again," said Tkachuk, a 2026 Olympic gold medalist who led all U.S. forwards in ice time versus Germany (23:15). "But once the first period was towards the end, I started feeling good again."
Overall, the U.S. holds the edge over Germany in head-to-head competition with 34 wins, seven ties, and 10 losses. However, in the biggest recent meeting, the Germans edged the U.S. 4-3 in overtime in the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship semi-finals en route to the silver medal in Tampere.
One minute in, Seider gave Germany the start it wanted. From the centre point, the Detroit Red Wings star floated his first goal of the tournament past Cooley through traffic. The only two previous German goals at these Worlds had come in the third period in the 3-1 loss to Finland and the 6-1 loss to Switzerland.
Samanski hailed Seider's leadership: "Obviously the way he's playing overseas in the NHL is the same way he plays here. He's our leader. He speaks up and helps us continue to grow our game, and I'm just trying to soak everything up and learn as well."
The Americans kept plugging away and gained momentum from their strong forecheck. Howard knotted the score at 14:33 off a German defensive-zone blunder. When Tiffels sent the puck out front to Fabio Wagner under pressure, he bobbled the puck. That enabled Alex Steeves to poke it to the 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner, who made no mistake.
In the second period, Sasson barged to the net to bang in the rebound from Ryan Ufko's point shot, giving the U.S. its first lead at 5:06.
Germany's Kai Wissmann thought he had tied it up at 6:27, but video review after a coach's challenge confirmed that Joshua Samanski was unable to keep the puck onside at the blue line on the play. The score remained 2-1.
Tiffels atoned for his earlier mistake just before the halfway mark, winning a puck battle in the slot with the U.S.'s Sam Lafferty and firing it past Cooley for the equalizer.
Germany retook the lead at 12:42. Alexander Ehl sent the puck cross-ice to the onrushing Michaelis and he broke over the U.S. to beat Cooley glove side.
The Germans stepped up their pace late in the middle frame, forcing Cooley to make excellent saves off Parker Tuomie and Lukas Reichel.
A gritty crease play saw the U.S. make it 3-3 at 14:13 of the third period. Grubauer thought he had the puck covered up, but Declan Carlile succeeded in poking it loose to Novak, who scored on the open side.
An exciting, end-to-end overtime settled nothing, and it was off to the shootout.
"The first couple periods were kind of boring for me, not a lot of shots, but then a lot of goals, so I didn't really like that," Cooley confessed. "But the third period, overtime, the shootout, that was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it."
The U.S. hopes Tkachuk's leadership will help it repeat as the world champion. Along with his younger brother Brady, the talented, agitating forward played an important role in the U.S.’s 2-1 gold-medal victory over archrival Canada in Milan in February. Tkachuk, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Florida, also owns a 2015 U18 Worlds gold medal and a 2016 World Junior bronze medal.
United States vs Germany - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
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