SWEDEN 5 LATVIA 4
In what ended up being a surprisingly close matchup between the two-time defending champion Swedes and eleventh-seed Latvians, it was Sweden that had to dig deep on Monday for a big three points in Group B standings with a 5-4 victory to secure a quarter-final berth.
It was a back-and-forth affair throughout including a wild third period that saw a desperate Latvia in need of a regulation win by at least two points to keep their quarter-final hopes alive. After Roberts Bukarts was able to draw the Latvians even at 4-4 with 3:24 remaining, they were forced to pull their goalie in search of another couple goals but Sweden was able to capitalize with Dennis Rasmussen potting the empty-netter to ice things for Sweden with 33 seconds remaining.
RECAP: SWE 5, LAT 4
With another quarter-final appearance all locked up, Adam Larsson and the Swedes will attempt to knock off the currently-undefeated, first-place Russians when the two meet for one last prelimary-round matchup on Tuesday, May 21 at 12:15pm MT. After Monday's victory, Sweden sits third in Group B behind the second-place Czechs who possess an identical 5-0-0-1 record. The Czech Republic has the edge in the standings due to their head-to-head victory over Sweden in the pair's opening matchup back on May 10.
CANADA 5 DENMARK 0
Over in Group A, it was Darnell Nurse and the Canadians strolling to victory with relative ease in a 5-0 final over Denmark.
A three-goal outburst in the opening ten minutes of the game set the table for Canada with Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jared McCann and Jonathan Marchessault getting on the board in the feverish first. The remainder of the matchup proved to be a calmer affair with forward Sam Reinhart tallying a pair of goals, one in the second and another in the third, to account for the only other offence en route to the 5-0 final.
Oilers blueliner Darnell Nurse logged 18:45 TOI and was +2 in the victory.
RECAP: CAN 5, DEN 0
The Canadian win helped lift them to second place behind the Finns on the A side. As with Sweden and Russia in Group B, Canada and the Finns have identical 5-0-0-1 records, but with Finland taking the head-to-head matchup over Canada, they finish Day 11 atop Group A standings.
All five Oilers involved in the tournament will be in action tomorrow, Tuesday, May 21 in the final day of prelimary-round play. Leon Draisaitl and the Germans will face the top-dog Finns at 4:15am MT, with Germany looking for three points to potentially finish as high as third in Group A if third-place America loses their final preliminary matchup.
Andrej Sekera and the Slovaks had their chances of advancing erased today with an American victory and will wrap their tournament with a meeting vs. Oilers prospect Patrick Russell and Denmark at 8:15am MT.
Darnell Nurse and Canada will be right back at it with a rivalry matchup against America at 12:15pm MT that will factor in to where each team finishes in the top three of Group A.
Finally, Adam Larsson and Sweden will be vying for a potential first or second-place finish in Group B when they take on the undefeated Russians at 12:15pm MT.
