Yesterday the 2019 IIHF World Championships kicked off action with four games taking place.
Steel Arena (Košice):
Finland 3, Canada 1
Slovakia 4, United States 1
Ondrej Nepela Arena (Bratislava):
Russia 5, Norway 2
Czech Republic 5, Sweden 2
In the first contest taking place in Košice yesterday, Team Finland would knock off Team Canada with a 3-1 win.
Finland’s Kaapo Kakko would open up the scoring at the 6:47 mark in the first period and Team Canada’s Jonathan Marchessault would score the lone goal for Team Canada with his goal at the 8:03 mark in the period with assists coming from Mark Stone and Shea Theodore.
After a scoreless second period, Finland’s Arttu Ilomaki would score at the 2:36 mark of the third period before Kakko would score his second goal in the contest for the Finnish squad with 34 seconds left in the period. Finland takes on Slovakia tomorrow and Canada looks to get their first win in the tournament when they take on Great Britain on Sunday.
In the second contest taking place in Košice, Slovakia would go on to crush the United States squad with a 4-1 win.
Four different skaters would net goals for Slovakia with Alex DeBrincat netting the only goal for the United States, with DeBrincat’s goal coming in the first period at the 12:05 mark with Patrick Kane and Jack Eichel netting the assists on the goal.
Slovakia would open up the scoring in the contest with Matus Sukel’s goal at the 4:02 mark in the first period. Later on in the second period, Erik Cernak would score at the 1:52 mark with Tomas Tatar’s goal at the 4:58 mark to give Slovakia a commanding 3-1 lead going into the third period.
Slovakia would score their fourth and final goal in the contest with Michal Kristof’s goal at the 15:54 mark in the third period.
Slovakia looks to defeat Finland when they face off tomorrow and the United States will look to get their first win in the tournament when they take on Team France on Sunday.
In the first contest taking place in Bratislava, Team Russia would cruise past the Norwegian team with a 5-2 win.
The Russian team would strike five times in the contest before the Norwegian team would even respond.
Team Russia’s scorers included Yevgeni Dadonov, who scored twice, Artem Anisimov, Nikita Kucherov, and Nikita Gusev all scored with Thomas Valkvae and Jonas Holos scoring for Norway.
Team Russia looks to 2-0 in the tournament when the Russian team faces off against Team Austria on Sunday. Team Norway looks to get their first win they face off against the Czech Republic tomorrow.
In the second contest taking place in Bratislava, the Czech Republic would take down the Swedish team with a 5-2 win.
On the Czech Republic side, Jakub Vrana would score twice, with other goals coming from Dominik Kubalik, Michael Frolik, and Jan Kovar. Patric Hornqvist and Oskar Lindblom would score for Sweden but it would not be enough.
Sweden looks to get their first win in the tournament when the Swedes take on Team Italy on Sunday and Czech Republic faces off against Team Norway tomorrow.
Upcoming schedule of games:
Steel Arena (Košice):
Saturday, May 11:
Denmark v. France
Germany v. Great Britain
Slovakia v. Finland
Sunday, May 12:
United States v. France
Denmark v. Germany
Great Britain v. Canada
Ondrej Nepela Arena (Bratislava):
Saturday, May 11:
Switzerland v. Italy
Latvia v. Austria
Norway v. Czech Republic
Sunday, May 12:
Russia v. Austria
Italy v. Sweden
Latvia v. Switzerland
Make sure to follow TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.
