Czechia defeated Denmark 3-2 on Tuesday in the playoff qualification round, earning a date with Team Canada on Wednesday. The two teams will face off in their quarterfinal game at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena at 10:40 am ET. (See the full schedule.)
The Czechs earned their rematch against the Canadians after a hard-fought game that was decided in a back-and-forth second period. All five goals in the game were scored in the frame.
Czechia’s Martin Necas opened the scoring with a power-play goal 5:39 into the period via a one-timer from the left circle. But Czechia’s lead evaporated 3:23 later with a goal from Danish forward Alexander True, formerly of the Seattle Kraken, who scored near the net.
Czechia’s David Kampf and Roman Cervenka then scored consecutive tallies before Nick Olesen answered, bringing Denmark within one with 2:48 remaining in the period. The goal for Olesen was his fourth in four games, tying him for the Olympic tournament lead.
Denmark couldn’t complete the comeback, though, and Cervenka’s goal would stand up as the game-winner. Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for Denmark while Lukas Dostal turned away 24 shots for the Czechs.
Notably, Marin Necas became only the fourth player ever to have multi-point games in three consecutive outings when NHL players have participated in the tournament.
In Canada and Czechia’s first game against each other, Jordan Binnington shut out the Czechs 5-0 in Group Stage play. Canada got goals from Macklin Celebrini, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nick Suzuki. In a game that never felt in doubt, the Canadians outshot Czechia 36 to 26.
“We let them win the first one because we knew we were not going to win two in a row against Canada,” Necas quipped after Tuesday’s game to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.
Now, Czechia will try to upset a rested Canadian team that comes into the game with a bye in the qualification round.
“We have to play smart,” Necas added. “We can’t take the penalties we took today because those will definitely cost us the game. We’re going to give our best. This is maybe the biggest game of our lives and we’re excited.”
