WORLDS: Day 8 Coverage

Oilers defenceman Andrej Sekera recorded his third assist and fourth point of the tournament as the host nation Slovakia doubled up France 6-3 on Friday at the IIHF World Championship.
Richard Panik got the Slovaks on the board with a power-play goal at 13:26 of the opening frame as Sekera got the puck at the point, slid it across to Robert Lantosi for the one-timer and Panik capitalized on the rebound.
Sekera assists on Panik's PPG
Matus Sukel, Libor Hudacek, Erik Cernak, Michal Cajkovsky and Ladislav Nagy also scored for Slovakia in the important victory to bump them up to 2-3 through five games.
With Germany's hot start at 4-0, the hosts will be hard-pressed to secure a spot in quarterfinals, but they can earn as many as 12 points with wins in their final two games against Great Britain on Saturday and Denmark on Tuesday.
The most likely scenario for Slovakia to qualify for quarterfinals would be the United States securing four or less points in their final three games vs. Denmark, Germany and Canada. The host squad's opening day win over the Americans could prove vital.
Day 8 was quiet for the Oilers contingent at the tournament, with only Sekera in action, but Day 9 on Saturday features Denmark (Russell) vs. USA at 4:15am MT, Canada (Nurse) vs. Germany (Draisaitl) at 8:15am MT, Sweden (Larsson) vs. Switzerland at 12:15pm MT and, as mentioned, Slovakia (Sekera) vs. Great Britain also at 12:15pm MT.
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For full coverage of the Oilers competing in this month's IIHF World Championship and their individual and country's performances, visit our international page at
EdmontonOilers.com/Worlds
.