Slovakia defeated Sweden 1:6 and can look forward to Canada in the quarterfinals

Sweden proved to be the favourite for the World Championship title in the group stage, defeating the last opponent in the group, Slovakia. However, it was already clear before the game that they would win the group and challenge Finland in the quarter-finals.

The final match of Group B could not tell us much. Sweden had not lost a point so far in the tournament and was assured of top spot in the group, which meant they could look forward to the derby with Finland.

Slovakia, on the other hand, was certain of fourth place and already knew its opponent, so it can look forward to Canada. But they wanted to play Sweden and make sure they could beat their star opponent.

However, Slovakia did not get off to a good start. In the third minute, Raymond took advantage of his team’s numerical superiority, crossing a shot by his teammate Hedman. Gajdos could have equalised right after the restart, but his attempt was saved by the goalkeeper.

Slovakia had another great chance shortly after the start of the second period, but nobody could get the puck over the line after a shot by Tatar. And when Slovakia couldn’t equalize, a Swedish penalty came.

At 27:31, Karlsson decided to shoot from a great angle and although Skorvanek was in position, he couldn’t fill the space between his head and the crossbar. And five minutes later it was three goals.

Slovakia suffered a big debacle

Karlsson was the assistant this time when he offered the puck to Burakovsky, who fired the puck into the back of the net without preparation. And less than a minute later it was definitely decided after Lundeström’s goal.

Slovakia went into the third period with the goal to try to make the lost game at least partially dramatic, but they just confirmed that they are not up to the best teams in this tournament.

The Slovaks didn’t give up, one minute later Ivan managed to reduce the deficit, but our eastern opponent couldn’t do anything more. In the end, they cashed in one more time, when Eriksson scored again, and in the end it was a 6:1 debacle.

Source: Ice Hockey World Championship 2024