World Championship Recap - 12.05.24

Martin Pospisil earned Player of the Game honours for Slovakia, while Andrew Mangiapane and Canada earned their second victory of the 2024 IIHF World Championship, dispatching Denmark 5-1 Sunday in Prague.

Slovakia 6, Kazakhstan 2

Pospisil played a big role in Slovakia’s win Sunday, to say the least.

He opened the scoring at the 11:54 mark of the first period. With the Slovaks on the powerplay, Pospisil dug the puck out of the right corner, then raced to the front of the net as defenceman Simon Nemec unleashed a one-timer from the point.

Pospisil grabbed the rebound, jamming it past the Kazakh netminder for his first goal with Slovakia’s senior men’s side.

Slovakia took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission, adding a penalty shot goal from Libor Hudacek in the middle stanza after Kazakhstan had clawed back to within two goals.

Pospisil got back on the scoresheet 1:18 into the third period. The Flames forward drove through the slot, tipping Hudacek’s centring pass past goalie Andrei Zhukov with a deft backhand.

Hudacek finished the contest with three points, earning a helper on Slovakia’s final marker before Alikhan Omirbekov rounded out the scoring for Kazakhstan with 8:55 to play.

Pospisil has been playing at centre for Slovakia at the World Championships after spending most of the NHL regular season on Nazem Kadri’s wing.

He finished Sunday’s contest with nine face-off wins in 17 attempts over his 14:42 of playing time.

Denmark 1, Canada 5

The Canadians made it two wins in as many tries with a 5-1 victory over Denmark Sunday.

Canada started early, jumping out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from Connor Bedard and Dylan Cozens, the latter goal coming on a powerplay with 4:35 left in the frame.

Denmark replied with the lone goal of period two, as Christian Wejse counted his first tally of the tournament at the 6:15 mark.

But Bedard restored Canada’s two-goal advantage early in period three, scoring his second goal of the game and third of the tourney when he tapped a loose puck into the yawning cage from just outside the Danish crease.

Dawson Mercer added insurance with an empty-net marker with two minutes to play, before Pierre-Luc Dubois salted the game away with a powerplay goal 21 seconds from time.

Jordan Binnington turned away 19 shots to secure the victory for Canada.

Mangiapane finished the game with one shot on goal in 15:02 of playing time.

Pospisil and Slovakia go after a second victory in as many days when they face the United States Monday. Puck drop is set for 8:20 a.m. MT.

Mangiapane and Team Canada are next in action Tuesday afternoon, when they take on Austria at 12:20 p.m. MT.