I can’t believe we lost, said a disappointed Tavares. Josi praised his team.

Switzerland secured the final with a shootout win against Canada. However, even a 2:0 lead after the first period was not enough for the Swiss, who could have lost thanks to unnecessary exclusions. Canada couldn’t turn the score around and the team full of NHL stars will only fight for the final 3rd place.

The main weapon on the Swiss side was the power play. After McCann was sent off, Kevin Fiala stepped up and opened the scoring. The Swiss took the lead just like in the group game, which Canada won thanks to an unnecessary exclusion of Fiala.

Two minutes later, Oleksiak offered another power play and Niederreiter made it 2-0. Coach Fischer’s team led the Maple Leafs again by 2 goals and this time it was not enough.

In the 2nd period, Tanev scored and 3 minutes from the end of regulation Tavares tied the game and sent it to overtime. However, no goal was scored in extra time and the shootout was decided by the Swiss.

Tavares couldn’t believe the loss and Josi praised the whole team

“We were close to the final. It’s still hard to believe that we lost. But I have to praise the whole team for getting back into the game,” said a disappointed Tavares. Canada’s captain scored 10 points in the game and even that wasn’t enough for Canada to win.

“We really cared about this game and unfortunately we didn’t make it to the final,” the Maple Leafs captain added. Tavares is experiencing more sadness in a short period of time. A couple of weeks ago, his Toronto Pastrnak’s season was already over in the first elimination round of the NHL playoffs.

“In the 1st period, we played really well on the power play. I think we played well in the next period too, but unfortunately Canada cut it down and from then on we defended a bit more. But it’s Canada, so they have a lot of weapons and a great offense,” the Swiss captain started his interview. Josi mentioned the great record on power plays, in which the Swiss have already scored 12 goals.

“We defended really well and Leo (Genoni) made some great saves. We wanted to play more offensively, but we couldn’t do that against this team,” Josi praised his team.

In the end, Switzerland might even have been happy that the game went into overtime. At the end of regulation time, Canada had a power play from which, had a goal been scored, Josi and co. would have had a hard time finding an answer.

Source: IIHF, WCH 2024