'Dug Ourselves A Hole'

PRAGUE, Czechia - Andrew Mangiapane's silver lining will have to have a bronze tinge.

Mangiapane, who won gold with Team Canada in 2021, will flip his best-case scenario to a third-place finish at the 2024 IIHF World Championship after his country fell 3-2 in a shootout to stingy Switzerland.

It sets up a date with Sweden on Sunday with a bronze medal on the line.

"It's tough," Mangiapane said. "I think we didn't have the best start and we kind of dug ourselves a hole and couldn't get out.

"We come here to win gold and we were right there, right?

"To lose in a shootout is a tough way to lose."

Mangiapane finished with one shot and an even rating in 15:09 of ice time - including 1:43 in the extra frame - in the low-event affair that saw Switzerland stifle much of Canada's offense after jumping out to an early 2-0 lead.

Goals by Kevin Fiala of the Los Angeles Kings and Nino Niederreiter two minutes apart, both power-play punches, staked Switzerland to an early two-tally bump.

"I think we battled back," Canada coach Andre Tourigny said. "The penalties in the first period, they create most of their offense on their power play and don't create a lot five-on-five, but they create a lot on their power play. They were tough to penetrate from there. They didn't allow a goal five-on-five the past three games. We score one today, but it was a dirty one, go to the net. That's the way you have to play against them.

"The second part of the game we played really solid, but it is what it is."

Brandon Tanev of the Seattle Kraken shovelled one over the goal line just over 14 minutes into the second period to pull Canada to within 2-1, and John Tavares - doubling as both captain of Canada and the Toronto Maple Leafs - sent one over the goal line with just under two minutes remaining in regulation.

Overtime solved nothing.

The shootout did.

"We had chances, obviously, even at the end there," Mangiapane said. "Would've been nice to obviously score later on there in the overtime as well. We had our chances, right? Got to give them credit. We got ourselves into a hole early on and couldn't dig ourselves out."

Canada had a powerplay, created by a too-many men slip, that extended into overtime.

Switzerland killed it.

Switzerland landed itself on the power play shortly thereafter via a too-many men infection.

Canada killed it.

A little more three-on-three would've favoured Canada, its alternate captain figured.

"Yeah, I'd say so," said Mangiapane, who has six points (1G, 5A) in nine games in the tournament. "I think we have a deep team. That's the way hockey is... powerplays, you have to penalty kill, you've got to do the little things right.

"Those played a factor in the overtime. We still have to get the job done."

Team Canada, eventually, were toppled on penalties, with Switzerland sliding two past St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, to Canada's lone net-denter against Swiss journeyman Leonardo Genoni.

"Sucks it comes to a skills competition at the end there, but you have to give credit to the Swiss," said Pittsburgh Penguins forward and Mangiapane mate Michael Bunting. "They played a good game.

"Obviously, they're a high-offence kind of team and I feel like we were able to shut that down 5-on-5. But they were really reliable in the d-zone. They lay out for everything.

"They played a great game."

Canada is now tasked with the same.

Because about 18 hours after heartbreak, there's still a chance to go home with a hardware haul.

Just not the colour Canada had hoped.

"You cannot escape the pain of that one," Tourigny said. "At midnight we need to move on and get ready. The Swedes are a really, really good team. We have an opportunity to finish our season with a win. I think we're all in to win the gold medal, but we lost in the shootout. We didn't lose a hockey game yet.

"Let's make sure we're ready for tomorrow."

Ditto, echoed Mangiapane.

"We've just got to be ready to play," he said. "Sweden's got a great team. We have to go out there, play our game, and we'll be okay. It's tough, obviously. Our goal is to win gold here.

"Our goal is to regroup and be ready to play."