Marcel Goc assisted on all three Germany goals in an exciting 4-3 overtime loss to Finland at the Hartwell Arena in Helsinki. Goc and Andre Rankel drew the assists on a Felix Schutz marker which tied the game at one midway through the second period. Janne Pesonen scored later in the frame to put Finland ahead by a 2-1 count. In the third period, Goc set up defenseman Christian Ehrhoff with Germany on a power play to even the game at two. Later in the period, Goc and Philip Gogulla got the helpers on Torsten Ankert’s goal which gave Germany its first lead of the game. Petri Kontiola notched his second goal of the game for Finland with 1:29 left on the clock to send the game to overtime. Veli-Matti Savinainen would score 1:58 into the extra period to give Finland the win. Goc finished the game with one shot on goal and an even rating. He won 13 of 24 faceoffs and was called for a minor penalty.
Tomas Kopecky assisted on a third period goal by Branko Radivojevic to make the score 4-0 as Slovakia cruised to a 6-2 opening day victory over France at the 2013 IIHF World Championship in Helsinki. The Florida Panthers forward finished the game with one shot on goal and an even rating while logging 14:43 minutes of ice time. Tomas Zaborsky and Libor Hudacek paced the Slovak attack with a goal and an assist each. Rastislav Stana made 24 saves to pick up the win. Cristobal Huet surrendered 5 goals on 30 shots while taking the loss for France. Fabrice Lhenry yielded the final Slovak goal late in the third period.
Tomas Fleischmann went pointless in the Czech Republic’s tough 2-0 win over Belarus in a game played at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. Flash played on the top Czech line with Radim Vrbata and Martin Hanzal. He fired two shots on goal and finished with an even rating while logging 16:03 minutes of ice time. Former Cat Alexander Salak turned aside 21 shots to post the shutout. Vrbata scored a goal and assisted on Jakub Voracek first period game-winner. Vitali Belinski stopped 34 shots in a fine effort for Belarus.
Jacob Markstrom surrendered two goals as Sweden was stunned by Switzerland 3-2 at the Globe Arena in Stockholm. Sweden trailed 2-1 late in the third period and pulled Markstrom for the extra attacker. Ryan Gardner scored into the empty net for Switzerland with 33 seconds left to make the score 3-1. Markstrom returned to the net and Simon Hjalmarsson scored 11 seconds later to pull the Swedes back within a goal. Tre Kronor pulled Markstrom again but failed to come up with the miracle equalizer. Matthias Bieber and Nino Niederreiter beat Markstrom in the second period to stake Switzerland to a 2-0 lead which it would not relinquish. Johan Fransson scored to make the score 2-1 later in the frame. Markstrom finished with 21 saves in 58:41 minutes of action.