Day 4 of the IIHF World Championship had a bit of everything including some controversy, a pair of upsets and the battle of two Nordic rivals – co-hosts Sweden and Finland, which ended up being a tight affair.
After back-to-back triple headers in Stockholm and Herning on Saturday and Sunday, Day 4 at the 2025 IIHF World Championship saw eight nations back in action, with four of them – Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the United States all looking to remain undefeated.
Austria (3) vs Slovakia (2) F/SO
The first game of the day in Stockholm also gave us the first shootout of the 2025 IIHF World Championship, which featured a controversial moment that left fans stunned. Austria got the scoring started in the first period with a pair of goals from Peter Schneider and Detroit Red Wings prospect Marco Kasper to give them a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Slovakia wouldn’t go down without a fight, as is the case at every World Championship, as they stormed back with goals from Calgary Flames prospect Samuel Honzek and Matus Sukel to tie the game up at 2-2, forcing overtime. The two nations would go scoreless in the extra frame and headed to a shootout. Los Angeles Kings prospect Martin Chromiak scored for the Slovaks in the shootout, however Austria would get goals from Lukas Haudum and Peter Schneider to give them the upset win and their first victory of the 2025 IIHF World Championship. Slovakia’s Michal Kristof, who needed to score to keep his nation alive in the shootout, was tripped by Austrian goaltender David Kickert during his attempt, which should’ve meant he was given another chance to shoot, but the officials on the ice didn’t agree and the call on the ice stood – no goal, Austria wins. An unfortunate moment for Slovakia and their fans.
Scoring Summary:
Austria
- Peter Schneider (1). Assists: Bernd Wolf (1), Marco Kasper (1).
- Marco Kasper (2). Assists: Peter Schneider (2), Clemens Unterweger (2).
Slovakia
- Samuel Honzek (1).
- Matus Sukel (1). Assists: Samuel Takac (1), Maxim Cajkovic (1).
United States (0) vs Switzerland (3) F
After shutting out the co-hosts Denmark and newly promoted Hungary by a combined score of 11-0 in their first two games of the IIHF World Championship, the United States got a taste of their own medicine during their third game as they took on Switzerland. Prior to the game, the United States officially registered Norris Trophy finalist Zach Werenski, however he remained scratched for Monday’s contest. Damien Riat and New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Seigenthaler scored in the middle frame for the Swiss, putting them up 2-0 heading into the first intermission. Just over halfway through the third period, former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan put the dagger into the American’s chances of getting back into the , giving Switzerland a 3-0 lead, which would stand as the final score, with 37-year-old netminder Leonardo Genoni stopping all 23 shots he faced for his tenth career shutout at the IIHF World Championship.
Scoring Summary:
Switzerland
- Damien Riat (3). Assists: Tim Berni (1).
- Jonas Seigenthaler (1). Assists: Kevin Fiala (1), Tyler Moy (3).
- Dean Kukan (1). Assists: Denis Malgin (2), Sven Andrighetto (1).
Finland (1) vs Sweden (2) F
The forever rivals, Finland and Sweden, faced off on day 4 of the 2025 IIHF World Championship and it was a day that fans of both nations had circled on their calendar ever since the tournament schedule was released in August 2024. As has been the case on several occasions between these two rivals, the game was very low scoring. Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson scored his second of the tournament in the first period, while defenseman Jonas Brodin scored his third of the World Championship in his third game, which is one less than he had all year with the Minnesota Wild. Harri Pesonen found the back of the net in the third period to cut Sweden’s lead to one. Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators made 39 saves on 41 shots, doing all he could to keep the Finns in the game but it wouldn’t be enough as Sweden pulled out a narrow 2-1 victory for their third regulation win of the tournament.
Scoring Summary:
Finland
- Harri Pesonen (1). Assists: Mikko Lehtonen (4), Hannes Bjorninen (1).
Sweden
- Leo Carlsson (2). Assists: Erik Gustafsson (3), Lucas Raymond (2).
- Jonas Brodin (3). Assists: Lucas Raymond (3).
Czechia (7) vs Denmark (2) F
It hasn’t been a great start to the tournament for co-hosts Denmark, dropping their first two games to the United States and Switzerland, allowing ten goals in the process. Things wouldn’t get any easier on Monday as they faced a Czechia squad led by David Pastrnak and Martin Necas. The Danes kept pace in the opening frame, with the two nations heading into the first intermission scoreless. However, that’s when it went downhill for Denmark, as Czechia scored four goals in the second period thanks to Martin Necas, Daniel Gazda, David Pastrnak and Lukas Sedlak, while Nick Olesen scored for the Danes. Denmark had a tough task ahead of them in the third period if they wanted to avoid a third straight loss, but the Czechs had other plans, scoring three more goals, including Martin Necas’ second of the game and they would go on win, 7-2, which put them into first in Group B.
Scoring Summary:
Czechia
- Martin Necas (1). Assists: Ondrej Beranek (1), Filip Hronek (3).
- Daniel Gazda (1). Assists: Petr Kodytek (1), Ondrej Beranek (2).
- David Pastrnak (2). Assists: Lukas Sedlak (1), Dan Vladar (1).
- Lukas Sedlak (2). Assists: David Pastrnak (3), Filip Hronek (4).
- Martin Necas (2). Assists: Filip Zadina (2), Michael Spacek (2).
- Daniel Vozenilek (1). Assists: Jakub Flek (1), Jakub Lauko (2).
- Roman Cervenka (2). Assists: David Pastrnak (4), Lukas Sedlak (2).
Denmark
- Nick Olesen (1). Assists: Patrick Russell (1), Nicklas Jensen (1).
- Christian Wejse (1). Assists: Nicklas Jensen (1), Nick Olesen (2).
Standings After Day 4
Group A
- Sweden (3 GP, 3 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 11 GF, 3 GA, +8, 9 PTS)
- Canada (2 GP, 2 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 11 GF, 1 GA, +10, 6 PTS)
- Finland (3 GP, 1 W, 1 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 7 GF, 6 GA, +1, 5 PTS)
- Slovakia (3 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 0 L, 5 GF, 9 GA, -4, 4 PTS)
- Latvia (2 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 5 GF, 8 GA, -3, 3 PTS)
- Austria (3 GP, 0 W, 1 OTW, 0 OTL, 5 L, 5 GF, 6 GA, +/-0, 2 PTS)
- France (2 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 1 L, 4 GF, 8 GA, -4, 1 PTS)
- Slovenia (2 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 2 L, 1 GF, 7 GA, -4, 0 PTS)
Group B
- Czechia (3 GP, 2 W, 1 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 14 GF, 7 GA, +7, 8 PTS)
- Switzerland (3 GP, 2 W, 0 OTW, 1 OTL, 0 L, 12 GF, 7 GA, +5, 7 PTS)
- Germany (2 GP, 2 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 0 L, 10 GF, 2 GA, +8, 6 PTS)
- United States (3 GP, 2 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 11 GF, 3 GA, +8, 6 PTS)
- Kazakhstan (2 GP, 1 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 1 L, 3 GF, 5 GA, -2, 3 PTS)
- Norway (2 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 2 L, 2 GF, 4 GA, -2, 0 PTS)
- Hungary (2 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 2 L, 1 GF, 12 GA, -11, 0 PTS)
- Denmark (3 GP, 0 W, 0 OTW, 0 OTL, 3 L, 4 GF, 17 GA, -13, 0 PTS)
My Three Stars of Day 4
- Marco Kasper (Austria) – 1 goal, 1 assist in shootout win over Slovakia.
- Lukas Sedlak (Czechia) – 1 goal, 2 assists in win vs Denmark.
- Juuse Saros (Finland) – 39 saves on 41 shots in loss vs Sweden.
Day 4 Schedule (Tuesday, May 13th)
- Slovenia vs Latvia (10:20 am ET)
- Norway vs Germany (10:20 am ET)
- Canada vs France (2:20 pm ET)
- Kazakhstan vs Hungary (2:20 pm ET)