The quick arrival of the favourite caught the Slovaks by surprise. Canada advances to the semifinals

On Thursday afternoon, Canada and Slovakia faced each other in the quarterfinal day of the World Hockey Championship. The favourite team showed a quick start to build a two-goal lead. The Slovaks were able to respond, but the Canadians kept the lead throughout the game. Slovakia is out of the tournament.

1. third period

A large part of the packed Prague O2 arena believed in a miracle, but the dream of advancing began to melt away for the Slovaks practically from the beginning of the game. At 2:45, Jared McCann appeared in front of Slovak goalie Hlavay and with a bit of luck managed to get the puck into the net.

Not even two minutes had passed and Canada was already leading 2:0, when a nice Canadian action was finished with an accurate finish by Pierre-Luc Dubois. The Maple Leafs then played a power play, but this time the Slovaks fought back.

The Canadians soon scored again, but unluckily into their own net. At the end of the eighth minute, Cehlarik’s pass was knocked behind his own goalie by a Canadian defender. Both teams created several more big chances before the end of the first period, but the score never changed.

2. period

The beginning of the second period belonged to the Slovaks, who literally flew at the opponent. Cacho had a great opportunity, but he couldn’t sweep the puck into the open net. The Canadians survived the ensuing jam in front of Binnington’s net.

The old “you don’t give, you get” rule applied again. The Canadians soon went on a three-on-one power play, and after Guenther-Bedard the puck went to Nick Pule, who comfortably shot the puck into the half-covered goal of Hlavaj – 3: 1.

The following minutes brought more even hockey. The Slovaks could have struck midway through the game when they played a power play, but they threw away the opportunity. After forty minutes, the scoreboard showed a two-goal lead for Canada.

3. period

Two huge chances were seen right at the start of the third period. First, the bar rang on the Slovak goal. A few seconds later, Brandon Hagel headed into the open net, but missed the net from a great angle. Canada played a power play shortly after, but it too was without effect.

But then the favourite got the break. In the 47th minute, Hlavaj first pulled off a superb save, but he couldn’t reach Dylan Guenther’s follow-up shot. And to make matters worse, Brandon Tanev scored twenty seconds later to make it 5:1 for Canada.

The nourishing passage of play continued. Not even half a minute had passed since Canada’s fifth goal when Miloš Kelemen scored from a quick counterattack. After that, the Canadians seemed to be in control of the game, but the Slovaks still clung to a sliver of hope.

With three minutes to go, Marek Hrivík took advantage of a five-on-three power play and then the Slovak team called off the goalie. But they couldn’t come up with much more. Nick Paul, on the other hand, hit the open cage and sealed the Canadians’ advancement to the semifinals.

Source: 2024 World Cup of Hockey