Day 2 of the 2025 IIHF World Championship has come and gone and now, all 16 teams have played at least one game following a triple-header in both Groups A and B in Stockholm and Herning, respectively.
Saturday’s action brought plenty of exciting moments including the return of Hungary and Slovenia to the top division for the first time since 2023, Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon’s return to the World Championship in ten and eight years, respectively, as well as Kazakhstan’s big win over Norway, which will help them in a big way later on in the preliminary round.
Slovenia (0) vs Canada (4) F
Team Canada began their pursuit of a 29th World Championship gold medal on Saturday as they took on a newly promoted Slovenia side that is looking to provide an upset during the preliminary round stay in the top division in 2026. Lukas Horak was making his World Championship debut today after receiving his Slovenian citizenship recently and he did not disappoint between the pipes, stopping 40 of 44 shots Canada threw his way. Canada got the board in the first period as New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat got the scoring started. Nathan MacKinnon, Bo Horvat and Noah Dobson all found the back of the net in the middle frame to put Canada up 4-0. After a scoreless and low-shot third period, Canada prevailed, picking up the victory in their first game of the tournament. Dylan Garand, who many were surprised to see between the pipes today, made 11 saves for a shutout in his World Championship debut.
Scoring Summary:
Canada
- Bo Horvat (1). Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (1), Travis Konecny (1).
- Nathan MacKinnon (1). Assists: MacKenzie Weegar (1).
- Bo Horvat (2). Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (2), Brandon Montour (1).
- Noah Dobson (1). Assists: Macklin Celebrini (1), Ryan O’Reilly (1).
Norway (1) vs Kazakhstan (2) F
No Andrei Shutov, no problem. The Kazakhs headed into the 2025 IIHF World Championship in search of their first-ever trip to the playoff round and they started out their tournament with a date with the Norwegians. Norway took a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to Johannes Johannesen, who had a career-year in Liiga with the Lahti Pelicans during the 2024-25 campaign. However, Kazakhstan would battle back, with captain and long-time national team forward Roman Starchenko scoring his 18th career World Championship goal, tying the game at 1-1 in the second period. In the final frame, Vladimir Volkov, who was making his World Championship debut, scored the Kazaks’ second goal of the game, which stood as the winner. Kazakhstan’s netminder, Maxim Pavlenko, had tough shoes to fill by replacing the injured Andrei Shutov at this year’s tournament and he didn’t disappoint, stopping 30 of 31 saves he faced.
Scoring Summary:
Norway
- Johannes Johannesen (1). Assists: Patrick Elvsveen (1), Havard Ostrem Salsten (1).
Kazakhstan
- Roman Starchenko (1). Assists: Nikita Mikhailis (1), Valeriy Orekhov (1).
- Vladimir Volkov (1). Assists: Alikhan Assetov (1), Dinmukhamed Kaiyrzhan (1).
Sweden (4) vs Austria (2) F
Sweden and Austria were back on the ice on Saturday afternoon at Avicii Arena in Stockholm one day after they kicked off their tournament. The Swedes are coming off a 5-0 win over Slovakia, while Austria dropped their opening game of the World Championship to Finland by a score of 2-1. Today’s game was another tight one for the Austrians, but it was evident from the get go that both teams were tired after playing 24 hours prior. Sweden took the lead in the second period thanks to Benjamin Baumgartner, but less than ten minutes later, Mika Zibanejad tied things up at one goal a piece. Flash forward to the third period and with less than eight minutes remaining, Detroit Red Wings prospect Marco Kasper gave Austria a 2-1 lead, putting his nation on the brink of a massive update. Unfortunately for the Austrians, Jonas Brodin would tie the game five minutes later and just 12 seconds later, Zibanejad scored his second of the night to give the Swedes their first lead of the game. Alexander Wennberg added an empty netter and Sweden picked up their second win in as many days to remain at the top of Group A.
Scoring Summary:
Sweden
- Mika Zibanejad (2). Assists: Erik Gustafsson (2), Marcus Johansson (2).
- Jonas Brodin (2). Assists: Lucas Raymond (1), Elias Lindholm (2).
- Mika Zibanejad (3). Assist: Rasmus Andersson (2).
- Alexander Wennberg (1). Assists: Mikael Backlund (2), Elias Lindholm (3).
Austria
- Benjamin Baumgartner (1). Assists: Thomas Raffl (1), Vinzenz Rohrer (1).
- Marco Kasper (1). Assists: Ramon Schnetzer (1).
Germany (6) vs Hungary (1) F
After a sixth place finish in 2024, the Germans are looking to return to the semifinals for the second time in the last three years at the 2025 IIHF World Championship and the first team standing in their way of making it to the medal round is newly promoted Hungary, who are making their 11th top division appearance. The Hungarians had a tough time against the Germans, allowing two goals and having just two shots of their own in the first 20 minutes. Germany continued to pour it on in the second period, adding two more goals to take a 4-0 lead to the dressing room. Hungary finally got on the board, with Gergo Ambrus scoring their lone goal of the game in the final frame, but Germany struck for two more goals and came away with a 6-1 win. Six members of the German team had two-point efforts today and will be getting a massive offensive boost in the coming days as Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle is joining the team.
Scoring Summary:
Germany
- Dominik Kahun (1). Assists: Justin Schutz (1), Wojciech Stachowiak (1).
- Joshua Samanski (1). Assist: Lukas Reichel (1).
- Lukas Kalble (1). Assist: Maximilian Kastner (1).
- Frederik Tiffels (1). Assists: Lukas Reichel (2), Joshua Samanski (1).
- Alexander Ehl (1). Assists: Patrick Hager (1), Jonas Muller (1).
- Dominik Kahun (2). Assists: Justin Schutz (2), Wojciech Stachowiak (2).
Hungary
- Gergo Ambrus (1). Assists: Tamas Ortenszky (1), Janos Hari (1).
France (1) vs Latvia (4) F
The fourth quarterfinal spot in Group A is going to be something interesting to keep an eye on throughout the preliminary round and two nations that could easily contend for that position – France and Latvia – faced each other in the final game of the day in Stockholm. St. Louis Blues forward Alexandre Texier was a late scratch for France ahead of puck drop, for unknown reasons at this time. The French got some great goaltending in the opening frame from Quentin Papillon, who turned aside all eight shots he faced. Dylan Fabre got France on the board with less than five minutes left in the first period, putting his nation in a good spot heading into the final 40 minutes, or so they thought. Latvia went on to score four unanswered goals, including a pair of empty netters from Boston Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis, to win their first game of the tournament by a score of 4 to 1.
Scoring Summary:
France
- Dylan Fabre (1). Assists: Jules Boscq (1), Pierre Crinon (1).
Latvia
- Martins Dzierkals (1).
- Roberts Kristaps Zile (1). Assists: Markuss Komuls (1), Rudolfs Balcers (1).
- Dans Locmelis (1).
- Dans Locmelis (2). Assists: Eduards Tralmaks (1).
Denmark (2) vs Switzerland (5) F
Switzerland and Denmark were back in action on Day 2 of the 2025 IIHF World Championship after they both lost on the opening day of the tournament to Czechia and the United States, respectively. Jyske Bank Boxen was rocking for this one, doing all they could to rally behind the home squad and it definitely helped as they took a 2-1 lead approaching the halfway point of the second period thanks to goals from Seattle Kraken Prospect Oscar Fisker Molgaard and former NHLer Joachim Blichfeld. The Swiss, looking to avoid back-to-back losses to start a World Championship for the first time since 2016, scored four unanswered goals, including a pair from Tyler Moy, which propelled them to a 5-2 victory and sit with four points in Group B through two games. Sebastian Dahm was the busier of the two netminders, making 30 saves on 34 shots in the loss. Both teams will have Sunday off before returning to action on Monday as Switzerland faces the United States, while Denmark the defending gold medalists, Czechia.
Scoring Summary:
Denmark
- Oscar Fisker Molgaard (1).
- Joachim Blichfeld (1). Assists: Mikkel Aagard (1), Nick Olesen (1).
Switzerland
- Nico Hischier (1). Assists: Christian Marti (2), Michael Fora (2).
- Tyler Moy (1). Assists: Nico Hischier (1), Timo Meier (1).
- Tyler Moy (2). Assist: Timo Meier (2).
- Damien Riat (2). Assists: Tyler Moy (2), Sandro Schmid (1).
- Nico Hischier (2). Assist: Sandro Schmid (2).
Standings After Day 2
Group A
- Sweden (2 GP, 2 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 9 GF, 2 GA, +7, 6 PTS)
- Canada (1 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 4 GF, 0 GA, +4, 3 PTS)
- Latvia (1 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 4 GF, 1 GA, +3, 3 PTS)
- Finland (1 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 2 GF, 1 GA, +1, 3 PTS)
- France (1 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 1 GF, 4 GA, -3, 0 PTS)
- Slovenia (1 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 0 GF, 4 GA, -4, 0 PTS)
- Slovakia (1 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 0 GF, 5 GA, -5, 0 PTS)
- Austria (2 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 2 L, 3 GF, 6 GA, -1, 0 PTS)
Group B
- Switzerland (2 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 0 L, 9 GF, 7 GA, +2, 4 PT)
- Germany (1 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 6 GF, 1 GA, +5, 3 PTS)
- United States (1 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 5 GF, 0 GA, +5, 3 PTS)
- Kazakhstan (1 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 2 GF, 1 GA, +1, 3 PTS)
- Czechia (1 GP, 0 W, 1 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 5 GF, 4 GA, +1, 2 PTS)
- Norway (1 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 1 GF, 2 GA, -1, 0 PTS)
- Hungary (1 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 1 GF, 6 GA, -5, 0 PTS)
- Denmark (2 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 2 L, 2 GF, 10 GA, -8, 0 PTS)
My Three Stars of Day 2
- Maxim Pavlenko (Kazakhstan) – 30 saves on 31 shots in win vs Norway.
- Mika Zibanejad (Sweden) – 2 goals in win vs Austria.
- Tyler Moy (Switzerland) – 2 goals, 1 assist in win vs Denmark.
Day 3 Schedule (Sunday, May 11th)
- Slovakia vs Slovenia (6:20 am ET)
- United States vs Hungary (6:20 am ET)
- Latvia vs Canada (10:20 am ET)
- Germany vs Kazakhstan (10:20 am ET)
- Finland vs France (2:20 pm ET)
- Norway vs Czechia (2:20 pm ET)