photo: Matt Zambonin/IIHF
Canada scored three goals early in the third to break a 1-1 tie and skated to a key 5-1 win over Slovakia tonight at BCF Arena in Fribourg. Ryan O'Reilly was in on two of the three goals, which included a short-handed beauty.
The win gives Canada first place in Group B with 17 points. Slovakia, with eleven, currently sits third.
Canada came into the game with a 15-2-2 all-time record against the Slovaks, the last loss coming back in 2012.
Both teams close out their preliminary round on Tuesday in games that will likely decide first place in Group B. Slovakia will play Sweden in the day followed by a marquee Canada-Czechia match in the evening.
"It was like an NHL game out there, good checking," noted Canadian defender Darnell Nurse. "They played hard, and I think there will be more of that in our last game against the Czechs, so we're looking forward to that."
"We had a 5-on-3 against, which sucks, and then we had an unlucky bounce in front of our net," said Samuel Knazko of Slovakia. "They were all over us after that. They have so many good players, and they all play in the NHL. And we were a little bit tired, I think, after yesterday's game. When you play Czech and Canada back-to-back, it's tough. The first two periods were good for us, when it's 1-1, but you have to play 60 minutes."
There wasn’t a lot of action in a tight-checking first period, played mostly between the blue lines. Martin Fasko-Rudas had a decent early chance coming down the wing, and Adam Sykora tried a wraparound that Jet Greaves, now 4-0 in the tournament, stopped nicely.
Sebastian Cederle made a great play at the Canada blue line when he let a Sykora pass slide through his legs. Sykora picked it up on the other side and went in alone, but he was stopped again by the Canadian goalie.
The play of the period belonged to Sidney Crosby, however. He got the puck to the side of his own goal, behind the icing line, and lofted a Hail Mary pass to linemate Dylan Cozens. Cozens skated under the pass, went in alone, and snapped a shot off the near post and in at 14:28 to give Canada a 1-0 lead.
The Canadians had a great chance to increase their lead early in the second. Macklin Celebrini dipsy-doodled his way to the slot and wired a shot destined for the top corner, but Samuel Hlavaj snapped his glove out for the save of the game.
Slovakia managed to tie it at 8:47 off a nice play by Kristian Pospisil at the Canada blue line. He got the puck and held on to it, fending off O’Reilly as he moved into the high shot. Pospisil found the far side under Greaves’s glove to send the pro-Slovakia crowd into a state of near-delirium.
The game finally opened, and both teams had good possession and chances, but the goalies were the stars and the score remained 1-1 through 40 minutes.
Canada was gifted a 5-on-3 early in the third for 1:16, but the Slovak penalty killers did a supberb job for most of it. The top power-play unit featuring Crosby, Celebrini, and O'Reilly came off, but the second unit took advantage of the last few seconds of the second penalty.
The puck bounced in front of the Slovak goal where Gabriel Vilardi batted it in at 2:14. Less than four minutes later, they added to their lead thanks to some fine spadework from O'Reilly behind the Slovak goal. He fought off Martin Pospisil and got the puck in front to John Tavares. Tavares moved the puck to his backhand and slipped in under Hlavaj's glove to make it a 3-1 game.
Evan Bouchard, who led all skaters with 21:08 of ice time, then outsmarted the Slovaks while Canada was short-handed. He got the puck at his blue line and skated up ice slowly, giving every indication he would ice it at some point. But when no Slovak pressured him, he turned on the jets and got the puck to O'Reilly, driving to the goal. O'Reilly had an easy tap-in for the short-handed goal.
Celebrini then added another off a drop pass from Vilardi, beating Hlavaj to the far side on a shot that probably should have been stopped.
"We created a lot of opportunities, and we stuck with it, and in the third all that commitment that we had started to pay off," Nurse added. "A lot of these teams can defend pretty well, so you have to give yourself opportunity. And sometimes when you get one, the floodgates open."
The win gives Canada first place in Group B with 17 points. Slovakia, with eleven, currently sits third.
Canada came into the game with a 15-2-2 all-time record against the Slovaks, the last loss coming back in 2012.
Both teams close out their preliminary round on Tuesday in games that will likely decide first place in Group B. Slovakia will play Sweden in the day followed by a marquee Canada-Czechia match in the evening.
"It was like an NHL game out there, good checking," noted Canadian defender Darnell Nurse. "They played hard, and I think there will be more of that in our last game against the Czechs, so we're looking forward to that."
"We had a 5-on-3 against, which sucks, and then we had an unlucky bounce in front of our net," said Samuel Knazko of Slovakia. "They were all over us after that. They have so many good players, and they all play in the NHL. And we were a little bit tired, I think, after yesterday's game. When you play Czech and Canada back-to-back, it's tough. The first two periods were good for us, when it's 1-1, but you have to play 60 minutes."
There wasn’t a lot of action in a tight-checking first period, played mostly between the blue lines. Martin Fasko-Rudas had a decent early chance coming down the wing, and Adam Sykora tried a wraparound that Jet Greaves, now 4-0 in the tournament, stopped nicely.
Sebastian Cederle made a great play at the Canada blue line when he let a Sykora pass slide through his legs. Sykora picked it up on the other side and went in alone, but he was stopped again by the Canadian goalie.
The play of the period belonged to Sidney Crosby, however. He got the puck to the side of his own goal, behind the icing line, and lofted a Hail Mary pass to linemate Dylan Cozens. Cozens skated under the pass, went in alone, and snapped a shot off the near post and in at 14:28 to give Canada a 1-0 lead.
The Canadians had a great chance to increase their lead early in the second. Macklin Celebrini dipsy-doodled his way to the slot and wired a shot destined for the top corner, but Samuel Hlavaj snapped his glove out for the save of the game.
Slovakia managed to tie it at 8:47 off a nice play by Kristian Pospisil at the Canada blue line. He got the puck and held on to it, fending off O’Reilly as he moved into the high shot. Pospisil found the far side under Greaves’s glove to send the pro-Slovakia crowd into a state of near-delirium.
The game finally opened, and both teams had good possession and chances, but the goalies were the stars and the score remained 1-1 through 40 minutes.
Canada was gifted a 5-on-3 early in the third for 1:16, but the Slovak penalty killers did a supberb job for most of it. The top power-play unit featuring Crosby, Celebrini, and O'Reilly came off, but the second unit took advantage of the last few seconds of the second penalty.
The puck bounced in front of the Slovak goal where Gabriel Vilardi batted it in at 2:14. Less than four minutes later, they added to their lead thanks to some fine spadework from O'Reilly behind the Slovak goal. He fought off Martin Pospisil and got the puck in front to John Tavares. Tavares moved the puck to his backhand and slipped in under Hlavaj's glove to make it a 3-1 game.
Evan Bouchard, who led all skaters with 21:08 of ice time, then outsmarted the Slovaks while Canada was short-handed. He got the puck at his blue line and skated up ice slowly, giving every indication he would ice it at some point. But when no Slovak pressured him, he turned on the jets and got the puck to O'Reilly, driving to the goal. O'Reilly had an easy tap-in for the short-handed goal.
Celebrini then added another off a drop pass from Vilardi, beating Hlavaj to the far side on a shot that probably should have been stopped.
"We created a lot of opportunities, and we stuck with it, and in the third all that commitment that we had started to pay off," Nurse added. "A lot of these teams can defend pretty well, so you have to give yourself opportunity. And sometimes when you get one, the floodgates open."
Slovakia vs Canada - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
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