Florida Panthers Tomas Kopecky and Marcel Goc both went scoreless during Slovakia’s 3-2 win over Germany Monday at the IIHF World Championship in Helsinki. Kopecky skated on Slovakia’s top line with Branko Radivojevic and Felix Bliznak. He finished the game with one shot on goal and a +1 rating while logging 17:42 minutes of ice time. Goc was on Germany’s number one line with Felix Schutz and Andre Rankel. The Cats center fired one shot on goal, posted a -1 rating and won 10/20 draws in 18:02 minutes of duty. Germany took a 2-1 lead in the third period on a Marcus Kink goal before Tomas Zaborsky scored twice to give Slovakia the win. Rastislav Stana was the victorious goalkeeper while Rob Zepp took the loss. Slovakia raised their record to 2-1 while Germany fell to 0-2-1 in the tournament.
Tomas Fleischmann had another quiet outing as the Czech Republic fell by a 5-2 count to surprising Switzerland in a preliminary round game in Stockholm. The Panthers forward tallied two first period shots and finished with a -1 rating while logging 11:37 minutes of ice time. Switzerland got goals from five different players while Jiri Hudler scored twice for the Czechs. Reto Berra made 37 saves to post the win while former Cat Alexander Salak took the loss. The Swiss have now won twice in regulation and once in overtime. The Czechs fell to 1-2 in the tournament.
Jacob Markstrom backed up Jhonas Enroth for the second-straight game as Sweden avoided a huge upset bid from Belarus, winning by a 2-1 count in Stockholm. Frederik Pettersson scored the winning goal with 8:24 remaining in the third period. Konstantin Kolstov tallied in the first period to give Belarus the lead before Oscar Lindback equalized in the second frame. Sweden has now won two-straight after dropping their opening game to Switzerland.
Monday’s Preliminary Round/Day Four Results
- Slovakia (Kopecky: 0P, +1, 0SOG) over Germany (Goc: 0P, -1, 1SOG) 3-2
- Switzerland over Czech Republic (Flash: 0P, -1, 2SOG), 5-2
- Sweden (Marky: DNP) over Belarus 2-1
Tournament Stats Among Panthers Participants (through 05/06/13)
- Nick Bjugstad, F (USA): 2GP 2A +1 0SOG(?)
- Brian Campbell, D (CAN): 2GP 0P +3 5SOG
- Tomas Fleischmann, F (CZE): 3GP 0P -1 4SOG
- Marcel Goc, F (GER): 3GP 3A 3P -4 4SOG
- Tomas Kopecky, F (SVK): 3GP 1A 1P +1 5SOG
- Jacob Markstrom, G (SWE): 1GP 23SA 21SV 0-1-0
Tuesday’s Preliminary Round Matches (IIHF Website and live scoring)
- Russia vs USA (Bjugstad), 1:15 pm, NBCSN
- Canada (Campbell) vs Norway, 2:15 pm