There were two games at day two of the 2021 IIHF World Hockey Championship that involved Devils players.
They went fifty-fifty as Matt Tennyson and Matthew Hellickson and Team USA lost 2-1 to Finland while Nico Hischier and Jonas Siegenthaler and the Swiss defeated the Czech Republic 5-2.
First off, the United States. Tennyson finished the game with one shot in 15:21 of total ice time, while Hellickson logged 13:25 of time on ice.
Following a clean first period – no scoring, no penalties – the Finns broke the seal 6:54 into the second. Atte Ohtamaa scored from Saku Maenalanen and Marko Anttila.
The rest of the scoring also took place in the second as Iiro Pakarinen scored at 15:41. He got assists from Ville Pokka and Olli Maatta.
The US cut things in half on the power play. At 18:01, with five seconds to go on a Pokka tripping call, Jason Robertson scored from Christian Wolanin to make it 2-1
The USA pulled goaltender Cal Petersen with a little less than two minutes to go in regulation, but to no avail.
It was a tough contest out of the shoot. The US now gets Canada in another test tomorrow.
Some of the other scores around the tournament saw Denmark not only hang with the Swedes, but defeat them, 4-3. That was the Danes’ first win over their Nordic brethren in WHC play. Germany was all over Norway, 5-1 and if you think that is bad, the Russians had their way with the British 7-1. Latvia – fresh off of their upset over Canada on day one, needed a shootout against Kazakhstan. The Latvians could not replicate the magic as Kazakhstan won in eight shootout rounds, 3-2.
Now on to the Swiss and Czechs.
Nico, wearing an “A” with the Swiss team, notched an assist for one point and had one shot on net in 19:15 of total ice time. Jonas Siegenthaler had a minor penalty for two total PIMs and one shot on net all in 9:57 of ice time.
The Czech Republic got things started with a power play goal 14:46 into the game. Filip Chytil scored from Jan Kovar and Jakub Vrana to make it 1-0 Czechs.
The Swiss would get the game tied at 17:09 with two seconds remaining on a Radan Lenc hooking penalty. Gregory Hofmann scored from Andreas Ambuhl and Dario Simion. And that was how we ended the first frame.
In the second, Timo Meier wasted no time. Three minutes into the period, Lenc took a slashing call to put Switzerland back on the power play. Meier scored 1:12 later (the lone assist to Hischier) to put the Swiss up 2-1.
Siegenthaler took his slashing minor at the 7:00 mark of the second. Nothing came of it as the Swiss killed it off.
The Swiss would add another goal (an even strength one) a the 18:19 mark of the second. Tristan Scherwey connected from Vincent Praplan and Christoph Bertschy to make it 3-1 Switzerland.
The Czechs started the third period with a new goalie as Roman Will came on in relief for Simon Hrubec. The penalty trouble, however, continued.
At 5:40, David Skenicka was called for interference and once that was killed off, Chytil was called for a high stick at 8:55.
The Chytil one would result in a Swiss goal. At 10:27, Meier scored again when he made it 4-1 off assists to Enzo Corvi and Philipp Kurashev.
The Czechs would get one back at 14:59 when Jiri Smejkal scored from Chytil and Skenicka. They would then pull Will for the extra attacker at 15:28. However, ten seconds later, Kovar took an interference penalty, putting the Swiss back on the power play.
Hofmann would connect on this one at 17:08. Dario and Ambuhl had the assists. That made it 5-2, our final.
The Swiss will next take on Denmark on May 23.